UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
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BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR. 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  PRODUCTS.  Or,  The 
Mechanism  and  the  Metaphysics  of  Exchange.  Three 

Essays  : 

What  Makes  the  Rate  of  Wages  ? 

What  is  a  Bank  ? 

The  Railway,  the  Farmer,  and  the  Public.  . 

Second  edition,  much  enlarged.  Octavo,  pp.  v.  +  365  .  $1  50 

“  His  remarks  on  the  legislators  of  the  country  are  vigorous  and  refreshing. 
The  book,  notwithstanding  its  statistics,  is  exceedingly  interesting  and  is  the 
ablest  defense  of  capital  that  we  have  seen.” — Chicago  Advance. 

THE  MARGIN  OF  PROFITS.  How  Profits  are  Now 

Divided  ;  What  Part  of  the  Present  Hours  of  Labor  can 

Now  be  Spared.  Together  with  the  reply  of  Mr.  E.  M.  Chamberlin, 

representing  the  Labor  Union,  and  Mr.  Atkinson’s  rejoinder  to  the 

reply.  (No.  XL.  of  “The  Questions  of  the  Day  Series”) 

Cloth,  75  cents  .  paper  ......  40  cents. 

“  This  volume  abounds  in  facts  and  statistics  of  first  importance,  and  no 
student  of  the  economic  problems  of  the  day  should  fail  to  give  it  a  careful  read¬ 
ing. — Boston  Traveller. 

G.  P.^PUTNAM’S  SONS,  Publishers 

NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 


THE  INDUSTRIAL  PROGRESS 

OF  THE  NATION 


CONSUMPTION  LIMITED,  PRODUCTION 

UNLIMITED 


BY 

EDWARD  ATKINSON,  LL.D.,  Ph.D. 

AUTHOR  OF  “THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  PRODUCTS,”  “THE  MARGIN  OF  PROFITS,”  ETC. 


G.  P.  PUTNAM’S  SONS 

RK  LONDON 

THIRD  ST.  27  KING  WILLIAM  ST.,  STRAND 

®fre  Knickerbocker  |)rcs8 


NEW  YORK 

27  WEST  TWENTY-THIRD  ST 


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COPYRIGHT  BY 

G.  P.  PUTNAM’S  SONS 

1889 


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i 


PREFACE. 


I  VENTURE  again  to  present  to  the  public  two  series  of  articles 
which  have  appeared,  one  in  The  Century  Magazine ,  and  one  in 
The  Forum.  I  have  made  such  slight  corrections  as  have  been 
found  necessary.  I  have  continued  the  statistics  which  have  been  previ¬ 
ously  published  down  to  the  present  date  and  I  have  added  some  other 
treatises  not  previously  published,  notably  the  Address,  given  to  the 
graduating  class  of  the  University  of  South  Carolina  in  which  I  have 
given  very  fully  the  motive  of  my  work. 

I  began  the  investigation  of  our  national  accounts  early  in  the  year 
1862,  wishing  to  demonstrate  the  ability  of  the  Nation  to  bear  any 
amount  of  taxation  which  might  become  necessary  for  the  maintenance 
of  the  national  existence.  At  that  time  my  own  concepts  of  the  great 
problems  in  social  science  which  I  have  since  undertaken  to  treat, 
.were  very  vague  and  indefinite  ;  I  held,  however,  a  profound  con¬ 
viction — 

1st.  That  the  purpose  of  human  life  upon  earth  could  only  be  the 
development  of  the  character  and  capacity  of  the  individual  through 
the  very  struggle  for  material  existence  which  seems  to  be  so  arduous. 

2d.  That  mind  and  character  must  be  the  paramount  factors  in 
material  production. 

3d.  That  there  must  be  2  higher  law  leading  through  the  correla¬ 
tion  of  mental  and  material  forces  toward  an  ample  and  abundant  sub¬ 
sistence  and  toward  an  equitable  distribution. 

4th.  I  held  the  profound  conviction  that  these  conditions  of 
material  welfare  could  only  be  attained  by  the  development  of  indi¬ 
vidual  intelligence,  leading  to  the  conception  that  in  all  commerce 
among  men  both  parties  serve  each  other. 

5th  That  whenever  the  interdependence  of  men  and  of  nations 
should  become  a  part  of  the  common  knowledge  of  the  people,  peace, 
order,  and  industry  would  be  adopted  as  the  common  law  and  practice 
of  nations. 

6th.  As  I  have  explored  each  branch  of  material  production,  it  has 
become  more  and  more  apparent  to  me  that  the  earth’s  capacity  to  sus- 

iii 


160338 


I 


^  .n 

— 


IV 


Preface. 


tain  life  has  hardly  yet  been  touched,  and  I  have  come  to  the  definite 

Ijconclusion  that,  while  the  power  of  mankind  to  consume  the  products 
of  the  earth  is  limited,  the  source  from  which  man  may  draw  satisfac¬ 
tion  for  his  material  wants  is  practically  unlimited. 

When  it  first  became  apparent  to  me  that  the  subject  of  our  domestic 
commerce  as  well  as  of  our  foreign  commerce  must  be  limited  substan¬ 
tially  to  the  exchange  of  the  product  of  each  series  of  four  seasons 
constituting  one  year,  and  that  by  so  much  as  the  few  might  attain  a 
greater  share  of  this  product  must  others  enjoy  less,  the  conception 
that  poverty  might  be  a  necessary  correlative  of  progress  in  wealth 
under  the  competitive  system  for  a  time  led  me  to  question  the  equity 
of  the  present  methods  of  distribution. 

This  is,  however,  a  very  superficial  view.  To  any  one  who  searches 
thoroughly,  it  very  soon  becomes  apparent  that  the  competition  of 
capital  with  capital, — of  owner  with  owner, — of  wealth  with  wealth, — 
tends  to  the  reduction  of  profits  to  a  minimum,  while  at  the  same  time 
the  use  and  application  of  capital  under  the  direction  of  competent 
owners  or  agents  increases  the  product  perhaps  in  even  tenfold  greater 
measure  than  the  share  of  such  increase  which  the  capitalist  secures 
either  in  the  form  of  rent,  interest,  or  profit.  Hence  it  follows  of 
necessity  that  the  share  of  the  annual  product  which  falls  to  the 
capitalist  must  be  almost  in  inverse  proportion  to  the  efficiency  of  the 
capital  which  he  directs.  In  other  words,  as  capital  increases  in  its 
productive  efficiency  it  becomes  a  factor  in  developing  a  constantly 
increasing  product,  of  which  a  lessening  part  is  secured  to  its  owners. 
On  the  other  hand,  so  long  as  workmen  gain  in  intelligence  and  skill, 
they  must  of  necessity  secure  to  their  own  use  and  enjoyment  a  con¬ 
stantly  increasing  share  of  this  steadily  increasing  product. 

It  therefore  follows  that  each  man  may  be  held  to  make  his  own 
rate  of  wages  as  well  as  his  own  rate  of  profits  by  the  measure  of 
individual  intelligence  and  aptitude  which  he  is  able  to  devote  to  the 
occupation  in  which  he  is  engaged. 

The  unequal  distribution  of  the  annual  product  therefore  becomes 
equitable  ;  the  only  condition  precedent  being,  that  the  government 
should  not  intervene  either  by  direct  or  indirect  taxation  so  as  to  divert 
the  increasing  product  which  is  due  to  science  and  invention,  either  to 
the  destructive  purposes  of  war  or  to  the  preparation  for  war,  or  to  the 
support  of  privileged  classes. 

Whether  or  not  such  has  been  the  effect  of  taxation  on  the 
debt-  and  army-ridden  nations  of  Europe,  may  perhaps  be  indi¬ 
cated  by  the  two  studies  on  the  “  Relative  Weakness  and  Strength  of 
Nations.” 

As  these  conclusions  were  gradually  developed  in  part  a  priori  and 
in  part  from  observation  of  existing  facts  and  figures,  thejirue  function 


V 


Preface. 

i 

■of  statistical  investigation  assumed  a  new  importance,  and  in  the  light 
jDl f  these  theories  the  following  studies  have  been  prepared. 

This  conception  of  the  mutual  interdependence  of  men,  and  that 
the  necessary  relation  of  mutual  service  is  the  condition  of  general 
welfare,  led  of  necessity  to  the  conclusion  that  all  trade  and  commerce 
should  be  free  from  any  artificial  obstructions  created  by  law,  except 
the  regulation  of  noxious  or  unwholesome  occupations  on  special 
grounds. 

It  may  happen  that  those  who  are  ready  to  accept  the  logical  con¬ 
clusions  which  are  developed  by  the  study  of  the  national  accounts  and 
the  statistics  of  international  commerce,  may  be  obliged  to  surrender 
their  inherited  ideas  in  respect  to  the  proper  functions  of  government, 
and  may  come  to  the  conclusion  that  commerce  should  be  free  from 
any  and  all  taxation  except  so  far  as  the  necessity  of  government  for 
a  revenue  on  foreign  imports  may  render  it  necessary  to  impose  taxes 
thereon. 

Whether  I  have  succeeded  or  failed  in  impressing  these  views 
upon  my  readers,  each  one  must  judge  for  himself.  If  I  shall  have 
given  a  direction  to  the  thought  and  life  of  the  younger  men  of  the 
present  generation  who  are  about  to  enter  upon  its  arduous  and  busy 
duties,  to  the  end  that  their  conception  of  the  meaning  of  life  and  their 
own  enjoyment  of  life,  of  work,  and  of  men  shall  be  increased  in  the 
measure  which  I  have  succeeded  in  attaining  for  myself  by  the  pursuit 
of  these  studies,  then  I  shall  have  accomplished  my  purpose  and  shall 
be  justified  in  all  the  work  that  I  have  done. 

Edward  Atkinson. 

Brookline,  Mass., 

July  4,  1889. 


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PREFACE  TO  SECOND  EDITION. 


THE  just  criticism  which  has  been  made  upon  this  book  is  that 
there  is  too  much  repetition  in  it  and  that  there  is  too  much 
of  it.  The  fact  that  a  second  edition  is  called  for  proves,  how¬ 
ever,  that  the  book  had  a  right  to  exist. 

The  author  may  make  no  apology  for  its  quality.  No  one  can  be 
more  aware  than  himself  of  the  disadvantage  of  the  busy  man  of  affairs, 
whose  literary  work  must  be  wholly  done  by  dictation  in  the  odd  inter¬ 
vals  of  business  and  in  the  few  hours  out  of  business  limits  which  may 
be  rightly  taken  from  necessary  recreation — from  reading  novels  and 
other  methods  of  diversion  from  the  customary  routine  of  hard  work. 
Such  are  the  conditions  under  which  this  work  has  been  prepared,  with 
little  assistance  even  in  making  compilations  of  statistics  and  no  aid 
from  any  one  in  deriving  from  them  the  lesson  which  they  seem  to  teach. 

What  is  needed  for  the  right  treatment  of  such  questions  as  have 
been  dealt  with  in  this  volume  is  a  copartnership  like  that  which  has 
been  entered  into  by  some  of  the  novelists.  If  one  whose  function  is 
to  study  the  facts  of  commerce  and  industry  in  order  to  wrest  from 
them  their  meaning  and  their  influence  on  life,  could  only  find  a  part¬ 
ner  among  the  men  of  leisure  with  the  capacity  to  work  out  these  facts 
into  good  literary  form,  a  series  of  treatises  corresponding  to  those  in 
this  volume  might  be  prepared  which  would  fill  the  gap  now  so  appar¬ 
ent  in  the  work  of  the  purely  student  class  and  also  in  the  work  of 
economists  and  authors  who  have  not  had  the  opportunity  to  take  part 
in  actual  affairs.  The  writer  deems  his  own  function  to  be  more  that 
of  the  compiler  of  materials  which  may  be  suggestive  to  others  than  of 
the  practised. writer  who  might,  if  possessed  of  the  information  and 
having  the  leisure,  convert  these  materials  into  far  better  form. 

Suffice  it  that  through  the  vast  extension  of  the  work  of  investigation 
now  being  conducted  by  national  and  state  bureaus  of  statistics,  by  ex¬ 
perts  in  the  census  department,  and  by  many  volunteers  in  the  study  of 
facts,  a  foundation  is  being  laid  on  which  the  economist  of  the  future 
rnay  develop  a  science  of  social  relations  which  shall  correspond  in  its 
breadth,  scope,  and  conclusiveness  to  many  of  the  treatises  on  the 
exact  sciences  which  are  now  being  rewritten  and  recast  in  the  light  of 
modern  observations  of  the  facts  of  physical  science. 

Edward  Atkinson. 


Brookline,  Mass., 
October  I,  1890. 


Vll 


CONTENTS, 


PAGE 

Preface  . . .  .  iii 

The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation  ;  Consumption  Limited,  Pro¬ 
duction  Unlimited — Commencement  Address  Delivered  before  the 
Graduating  Class  of  the  University  of  South  Carolina,  June  26,  1889  .  1 

The  Food  Question  in  America  and  Europe  ;  or,  The  Public  Victualing 

Department  ............  33; 

The  Relative  Strength  and  Weakness  of  Nations — Two  Studies  in  the 
Application  of  Statistics  to  Social  Science  : 

I. — Strength  ............  53 

II. — Weakness  ...........  80 

Low  Prices,  High  Wages,  Small  Profits  :  What  makes  them  ?  .  .  .  101 

The  Distribution  of  Products  : 

I. — How  can  Wages  be  Increased  ?  .  .....  137 

II. — Must  Humanity  Starve  at  Last  ?  .  .  .  .  .  .  155, 

III.  — Progress  from  Poverty  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .163 

IV.  — The  Progress  of  the  Nation  .  .  .  .  .  .  .176 

V. — The  Struggle  for  Subsistence  .......  192 

VI. — The  Price  of  Life  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  •  20a 

VII. — An  Easy  Lesson  in  Statistics  .......  209 

VIII. — Reforms  That  do  Not  Reform  .......  219 

IX. — How  Society  Reforms  Itself  .......  229 

X. — Remedies  for  Social  Ills  ........  239 

Theory  and  Practice  (Supplement  to  No.  X.)  ....  247 

What  shall  be  Taxed  ? — What  shall  be  Exempt  ? . 253 

Production,  Distribution,  Consumption  .......  291 

Slow-Burning  Construction . 309 

The  Missing  Science . 339 

A  Single  Tax  on  Land  ...........  351 

Religion  and  Life . 377 

Index . ,  .  3S9 


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THE  INDUSTRIAL  PROGRESS  OF  THE 

NATION 


CONSUMPTION  LIMITED,  PRODUCTION  UNLIMITED 


THE  INDUSTRIAL  PROGRESS  OF 

THE  NATION; 

»  ' 

CONSUMPTION  LIMITED,  PRODUCTION  UNLIMITED.1 


GENTLEMEN  :  I  imagine  that  it  very  seldom  happens  that  one 
who  has  missed  the  training  of  the  College  or  of  the  Univer¬ 
sity  is  called  upon  to  make  the  Commencement  Address  to  a 
graduating  class,  as  I  have  been  invited  at  this  time  by  your  Faculty. 
Such,  however,  having  been  my  loss  in  the  process  of  education,  you 
may  not  expect  from  me  either  a  literary  treatise  or  a  philosophical 
essay  ;  I  can  give  you  only  a  few  observations  which  I  have  drawn 
from  the  experience  of  practical  life. 

I  have  been  for  nearly  fifty  years  engaged  in  the  actual  work  of  life  in 
dealing  with  the  material  processes  which  are  necessary  to  the  support 
of  mankind  in  comfort  and  welfare.  I  have  had  but  little  time  for 
reading  books,  and  I  am  not  learned  in  economic  science  as  it  is  laid 
down  in  the  almost  innumerable  treatises  which  have  been  written  under 
the  title  of  Political  Economy.  I  can  only  deal  with  the  aspect  of  life 
from  the  standpoint  of  a  workman,  but  I  use  the  word  “  workman”  in 
its  broadest  and  not  its  narrow  sense.  The  mind  of  man  is  the  prime 
factor  in  the  work  of  life.  In  the  material  work  of  production  and 
distribution,  without  the  work  of  the  mind  the  hand  would  never  have 
gained  its  power,  or  it  would  lose  its  cunning.  The  material  processes 
which  are  necessary  to  existence,  and  which  are  conducted  under  the 
name  of  farming,  manufacturing,  trade  and  commerce,  are  sometimes 
looked  down  upon  as  being  relatively  inferior  occupations — mere  work 
for  bread  and  butter  ;  or  they  are  looked  upon  at  least  as  not  being 
entitled  to  the  same  place  of  dignity  or  estimation  as  the  so-called 
“  learned  professions  ”  ;  but  I  claim  for  what  may  be  called  the 
unlearned  professions  a  place  upon  the  same  plane  and  of  equal  stand¬ 
ing  with  all  others,  yielding  precedence  to  only  one,  the  highest  of  all 

1  Commencement  address  given  to  the  graduating  class  of  the  University  of  South 

Carolina,  June  26,  1889. 


2 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


professions,  that  of  the  jurist.  I  render  the  highest  honor  to  him,  the 
law-giver,  the  true  jurist,  the  man  who  of  right  provides  against  wrong, 
under  whose  impartial  supervision  laws  are  made  and  enforced,  and 
by  whom  the  rigid  provisions  of  statute  law,  imperfect  as  it  must 
always  be,  may  be  alleviated  in  the  Court  of  Equity. 

Had  I  anticipated  the  honor  which  you  have  conferred  upon  me  in 
granting  me  the  Degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  I  should  hardly  have  ven¬ 
tured  to  incorporate  in  my  address  this  estimate  of  the  jurist.  You 
may  well  conceive  that  my  satisfaction  is  the  greater  because  the  pass¬ 
port  which  you  have  given  me  to  enter  my  name  among  the  learned  in 
the  higher  law,  carries  with  it  a  recognition  of  service  measured  more 
highly  than  I  could  have  ventured  to  hope  for.  I  most  profoundly 
thank  you  for  this  recognition,  and  I  shall  value  a  Degree  from  the 
University  of  South  Carolina  more  than  any  that  could  have  been 
conferred  upon  me  by  any  other  institution  of  learning. 

So  long  as  man  dwells  in  this  body  upon  the  earth,  the  development 
both  of  the  mental  and  the  spiritual  elements  in  human  life  must 
depend  in  great  measure  upon  the  manner  in  which  the  human  body 
itself  is  sustained  ;  that  is  what  bread  and  butter  stand  for,  or  as  I 
believe  Carlyle  himself  once  named  it,  the  “  Potato  Gospel.” 

I  might  not  again  venture  to  quote  to  you  the  old  and  trite  aphorism 
“  Mens  sana  in  corpore  sano,”  had  I  not  asked  my  friend  Dr.  William 
Everett  to  give  me  a  similar  aphorism  which  should  indicate  that  even 
the  spirit  could  not  be  rightly  developed  except  in  a  well-nourished 
body  ;  to  which  demand  he  at  once  replied,  “  Non  est  animus  cui  non 
est  corpus.”  Can  there  be  a  soul  unless  the  body  eats  ? 

On  the  other  hand,  the  very  necessity  which  is  imposed  upon  us  to 
sustain  the  human  body  by  manual  and  mechanical  work  re-acts  upon 
the  mind,  and  this  tends  to  build  up  the  character  of  the  man  himself 
in  just  and  even  proportion  to  his  own  conception  of  the  true  purpose 
of  his  own  life.  To  him  who  has  faith  in  a  higher  power  which  is  both 
supreme  and  wholly  beneficent,  no  matter  from  what  source  he  may 
have  derived  his  idea  of  the  Eternal,  there  can  be  but  one  conception 
of  life  itself.  The  premises  on  which  that  conception  may  be  based 
must  be,  that  this  world  is  the  best  world  that  could  have  been  made  ; 
that  the  conditions  of  this  life  are  the  best  conditions  that  could  have 
been  established  for  the  development  of  mankind  ;  and  that  the  strug¬ 
gle  for  existence,  hard  and  severe  as  it  seems  to  us,  must  be  the 
necessary  school  by  which  man  could  have  been  elevated  above  the 
beasts  of  the  field.  If  there  could  have  been  a  better  world  or  a  better 
method  for  the  development  of  mankind,  man  would  have  the  right  to 
ask  his  Creator  why  it  had  not  been  established. 

In  other  words,  to  me  the  alternative  of  Atheism  is  my  own  concep¬ 
tion  that  the  whole  purpose  of  life  is  beneficent  and  not  maleficent,  and 


Consumption  Limited ,  Production  Unlimited \  3 

that  all  shall  share  in  the  wise  purpose  of  the  Almighty  to  bring  all  to 
that  conception  of  life  which  shall  give  rest  and  re-creation  to  the  soul. 

In  the  material  world,  all  we  can  do  is  to  move  something  ;  but  if 
there  were  no  obstruction  to  movement,  if  there  were  no  friction,  there 
could  be  no  movement  of  any  kind.  So  in  the  moral  world,  if  there 
were  no  possibility  of  wrong-doing,  there  could  be  no  right-doing. 

In  the  material  world  again,  if  there  were  no  law  of  gravitation 
exerting  its  centripetal  force,  there  could  be  no  lifting  of  the  clouds,  no 
falling  of  the  rain,  no  development  of  the  plant,  no  life  of  the  animal ; 
then  no  man  could  exist  upon  the  earth  to  be  elevated  by  the  necessity 
of  labor  to  the  perception  of  his  manhood,  and  by  the  development  of 
his  own  personal  character  and  intelligence  to  the  domination  of  the 
forces  of  nature. 

If  there  were  no  material  wrong  to  be  overcome  in  the  physical 
world,  there  could  be  no  virtue  in  overcoming  wrong  ;  and  without  the 
struggle  in  and  with  the  physical  world  in  order  to  attain  true  character, 
there  could  be  no  mental  conception  of  the  spiritual  world  which  is 
around  us  and  beyond  us. 

It  follows  then  that  the  three  phases  of  our  life  upon  the  earth,  the 
material,  the  mental,  and  the  spiritual,  cannot  be  separated  ;  they  are 
complements  of  each  other,  each  necessary  to  the  other  ;  therefore 
each  phase  of  life  must  be  developed  in  harmonious  relation  to  the 
others.  May  we  not  then  assume  that  the  beneficent  purpose  of  that 
part  of  our  lives  which  is  passed  upon  the  earth  in  which  we  are 
forced  to  keep  up  the  struggle  and  to  labor  for  existence,  is  the 
building  up  of  each  individual  character  by  way  of  that  very  struggle  ? 
Would  not  the  work  of  life  otherwise  be  wholly  without  meaning? 
This  is  the  true  “  potato  gospel.”  It  is  not  a  dismal  science.  The  ex¬ 
perience  of  men  and  of  nations  may  sustain  this  principle. 

We  can  seldom  help  those  who  cannot  help  themselves,  and  the 
sentiment  of  philanthropy  often  leads  to  mistaken  efforts  to  remove 
the  necessity  for  labor.  We  may  alleviate  want,  and  our  humane  sym¬ 
pathies  compel  us  to  do  so  when  called  upon  ;  but  we  cannot  remove 
the  causes  of  poverty  by  giving  relief,  only  by  showing  how  relief  may 
be  earned.  We  can  maintain  great  bodies  of  men  if  we  have  the 
capacity  to  dominate  over  them,  by  directing  their  mere  physical  force 
to  the  supply  of  their  material  wants,  without  mental  effort  on  their  own 
part  ;  but  such  conditions  are  dangerous  to  him  who  assumes  the  con¬ 
trol,  and  are  also  degrading  to  those  who  subject  themselves  to  such 
domination  and  control. 

There  can  be  no  great  progress  in  a  community  where  a  privileged 
class  assumes  a  superior  position,  and,  holding  it  by  force  or  cunning, 
undertakes  to  protect  an  inferior  class  from  the  consequences  of  their 
own  ignorance.  In  any  well-organized  society,  equality  of  rights  and 


4 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 

the  recognition  of  the  law  of  mutual  service  are  the  necessary  con¬ 
ditions  on  which  only  must  rest  any  true  and  permanent  progress  even 
in  material  welfare.  Every  one  knows  how  easy  it  is  to  render  those 
who  are  willing  to  be  helped  without  rendering  corresponding  work  or 
service  ever  more  and  more  incapable  of  helping  themselves.  What 
we  can  do  is  to  remove  obstructions  from  their  way,  to  provide  for 
their  education,  and  then  to  give  all  an  equal  opportunity  with  our¬ 
selves  to  work  for  their  own  living  under  just  laws  assuring  equal 
rights. 

Let  us  then  analyze  this  work  of  life.  One  half  the  work  of  life  in 
this  most  prosperous  country  is  even  to-day  of  necessity  devoted  to  the 
mere  purpose  ©f  obtaining  food.  Why  should  this  struggle  for  food 
have  been  permitted  ?  What  does  it  mean  ?  The  greater  part  of  the 
surrounding  atmosphere  consists  of  nitrogen  ;  yet  the  most  important 
and  costly  element  of  our  food  is  nitrogen  in  such  a  form  that  it  may 
be  capable  of  being  absorbed  by  plants  and  thereby  converted  to  the 
subsistence  of  men.  There  are  great  tropical  sections  of  the  world  in 
which  the  conversion  of  the  nitrogen  into  plant  life  through  the  rapid 
decay  of  all  organic  forms  yields  most  abundant  subsistence.  But  we 
do  not  look  to  the  tropics  for  the  development  of  the  highest  type  of 
manhood.  If  what  are  called  favorable  conditions  for  the  most 
abundant  product  did  in  fact  develop  the  highest  type  of  man,  we  who 
dwell  far  away  amid  the  granite  and  ice  of  New  England  might  in 
truth  have  some  cause  to  fear  for  our  future.  Midway  between  the 
tropics  and  our  zone,  which  is  sometimes  called  Temperate — perhaps 
because  it  is  subject  alike  to  tropical  heat  and  to  polar  cold,  and  can 
only  be  called  Temperate  on  the  average, — comes  in  your  Sunny  South. 
Dividing  the  Sunny  South  midway  is  the  terra ,  no  longer,  almost 
incognita ,  as  it  was  when  I  first  ventured  to  picture  it,  the  Land  of 
the  Sky. 

How  many  of  you,  I  wonder,  yet  know  what  opportunities  you  have 
at  your  disposal,  waiting  no  longer  for  Northern  capital  but  now  being 
developed  by  Southern  enterprise?  Was  I  wrong  when,  but  a  few 
years  since,  I  ventured  to  describe  this  land,  in  which,  until  a  very 
recent  day,  two  or  three  million  homespun  people  still  using  archaic 
forms  of  English  speech,  were  almost  the  only  dwellers?  Was  I  wrong 
when  I  said  that  if  a  line  were  drawn  southerly  from  the  Potomac 
along  the  easterly  margin  of  the  Piedmont  plateau,  westerly  on  the 
southern  edge  of  the  uplands  of  Alabama,  northerly  to  the  Ohio  along 
the  margin  of  the  Cumberland  plateau,  taking  in  that  most  fertile  and 
beautiful  country  that  eye  hath  ever  seen,  the  blue-grass  region  of 
Kentucky,  and  back  again  to  the  point  of  beginning, — that  boundary 
would  enclose  an  area  more  than  three  fourths  as  large  as  France  and 
twice  as  large  as  Great  Britain,  containing  potential  in  agriculture 


Consumption  Limited ,  Production  Unlimited.  5 

equal  to  either,  with  minerals  and  timber  equal  to  both  combined  ? 
That  land  was  waiting  only  for  the  mind'  of  man  to  become  the  prime 
factor  in  production.  That  I  was  not  wrong,  let  the  great  enterprises 
of  the  New  South  bear  witness.  I  need  not  name  them. 

Over  this  great  stretch  of  country  the  glacial  drift  never  passed  ; 
the  soil  consisting  of  the  disintegrated  rock  of  the  old  Laurentian 
Chain  is  rich  in  all  the  elements  of  fertility  that  give  the  strength  to 
your  timber  and  the  beauty  to  your  mountains  ;  on  which,  within  two 
hundred  miles  of  distance  east  and  west  from  the  border  of  the  Piedmont 
plateau  to  the  top  of  Roan  Mountain  you  may  find  the  whole  flora  and 
fauna  which  extend  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  on  a 
line  of  two  thousand  miles  north  and  south.  When  the  shrinking  of  the 
crust  of  the  earth  occurred,  by  which  these  convolutions  were  made,  of 
which  the  Laurentian  Chain  with  its  lateral  ridges  and  plateaus  forms 
a  part,  the  one  hundred  miles  more  or  less  of  sandstone  which  separate 
iron  from  coal  in  the  northern  section  (or  which  overlies  them  render¬ 
ing  the  mines  deep),  forming  sharp  ridges  and  making  difficult  grades 
to  be  surmounted,  were  not  thrown  up.  In  the  southern  section  of  the 
chain  down  there  in  Alabama,  the  iron,  the  coal,  and  the  limestone  lie 
close  together  in  adjacent  hills,  and  almost  dump  themselves  by  their 
own  gravity  into  the  furnace  in  which  they  are  to  be  converted  to  use, 
when  they  are  but  once  loosened  from  their  beds. 

Endowed  with  all  these  elements  of  wealth  and  welfare,  you  young 
men  of  the  Sunny  South  and  of  the  Land  of  the  Sky  are  now  entering 
into  vigorous  and  urgent  competition  with  us  of  the  cold  and  sterile 
North.  Behind  us  both  stand  the  unnumbered  millions  who  occupy 
the  fat  and  fertile  prairies  of  the  far  West,  waiting  for  the  service  which 
each  of  us  may  render  them  in  exchange  for  the  huge  abundance  of 
their  fields.  We  welcome  the  contest,  because  it  is  in  the  busy  contest 
of  industry  that  the  highest  qualities  of  manhood  have  been  developed 
and  may  yet  be  established.  But  we  may  sound  the  note  of  warning — 

“  We  tell  each  land  ;  while  every  toil  they  share, 

Firm  to  sustain  and  resolute  to  dare, 

Man  is  the  nobler  growth  our  realms  supply, 

And  souls  are  ripened  in  our  northern  sky.” 

It  is  the  function  of  the  economist  to  deal  with  these  elements  of 
wealth  and  welfare  and  to  evolve  the  laws  of  social  science  to  which  all 
human  statutes  must  be  made  subordinate,  so  that  the  gratuitous  gifts 
of  nature  with  which  you  are  so  abundantly  endowed,  and  in  which  we 
may  share  by  the  exchange  of  services,  may  be  converted  equitably  to 
the  use  of  man. 

I  might  have  given  you  the  title  of  this  Address — Individual  Liberty 
the  only  condition  on  which  Material  Welfare  can  be  assured. 


6 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


Given  just  laws  and  local  self-government  established  under  the 
central  sustaining  power  of  a  great  nation  ;  given  equal  opportunity  and 
free  commerce  between  the  States,  under  which  each  man  may  provide 
for  his  own  wants  by  rendering  service  to  his  neighbor  ;  and  we  may 
j  then  discover  that  while  our  consumption  is  limited  the  power  of  produc¬ 
tion  is  practically  unlimited. 

In  the  treatment  of  this  subject,  in  which  I  shall  endeavor  to 
demonstrate  the  principle  that  individual  liberty  is  the  only  condition 
on  which  material  welfare  can  be  predicated,  you  will  bear  in  mind 
that  liberty  is  not  license  ;  that  it  does  not  of  necessity  stand  for  the 
concept  of  the  economists  of  France,  who,  at  the  end  of  the  last  century 
became  famous  by  adopting  the  motto,  “  laissez  faire ,  laissez  passer .” 
Individual  liberty  implies, full  liberty  for  men  to  combine  for  mutual 
benefit ;  it  does  not  of  necessity  imply  the  separation  of  individuals  any 
more  than  their  combination.  There  are  many  processes  of  productive 
and  distributive  industry  which  may  be  accomplished  more  effectually 
by  combination  under  laws  and  rules,  as  in  the  ordinary  railway  cor¬ 
poration,  than  through  isolated  individual  action.  There  are  also  some 
necessary  processes  of  a  productive  or  constructive  order  which  are 
intimately  connected  and  bound  up  with  the  industry  of  every  country, 
but  which  may  be  accomplished  by  the  State  acting  as  a  corporation, 
better  than  they  can  be  done  by  the  individual  or  the  private  cor¬ 
poration. 

At  what  point  the  function  of  the  State  or  of  the  corporation  rightly 
ends,  and  exactly  at  what  point  the  separate  function  of  the  individual 
should  begin,  is  a  matter  to  be  determined  by  experience  and  not  to  be 
laid  down  a  priori  with  the  assurance  of  a  dogmatic  principle.  Given, 
as  I  have  said,  just  laws  and  local  self-government  well  established 
under  the  central  sustaining  power  of  a  great  nation  ;  given  equal 
opportunity  within  the  domain  of  a  nation,  with  free  commerce  or  the 
exchange  of  services  established  under  organic  laws,  under  which 
each  man  may  provide  for  his  own  wants  either  by  his  own  work, 
by  combination  with  others,  or  by  rendering  service  to  his  neighbor  ; 
and  then  only  may  we  expect  to  derive  from  experience  a  true  con¬ 
ception  of  the  fundamental  rules  by  which  human  society  should  be 
governed  so  that  the  general  welfare  may  be  assured. 

Social  science  is  therefore  in  great  measure  an  experimental  science. 
I  have  faith  to  believe  that  on  the  basis  of  the  progress  which  we  have 
already  attained  in  this  country,  the  conception  which  I  present  as  an 
hypothesis  may  prove  to  be  a  principle,  and  may  be  acted  upon  with 
absolute  assurance  of  its  truth,  to  this  effect  :  that  ^hile  the  consump¬ 
tion  of  man  in  respect  to  the  means  of  subsistence  is  limited, — the 
jpower  of  materialproducTion,  i.  e .,  the  power  of  mankind  to  direct  the 
forces  of  nature  loghe  purpose~dTsustalning  humanlife  irTcomfort  and 


Consumption  Limited ,  Production  Unlimited. 


7 


welfare,  is  practically  unlimited.  The  very  suggestion  that  there  may 
be  such  a  principle  calls  attention  to  the  profound  importance  of  the 
study  of  economic  science. 

It  will  doubtless  be  generally  admitted  that  the  three  economic 
writers  who  have  greatly  affected  the  policy  of  Great  Britain  and  who 
have  therefore  indirectly  affected  the  condition  of  the  whole  English- 
speaking  people  more  than  any  others,  have  been  Adam  Smith, 
Malthus,  and  Ricardo.  To  these  three  names  may  perhaps  be  added  in 
later  years  the  names  of  Bentham  and  Mill. 

Each  of  the  three  writers  first  named  submitted  propositions  or 
hypotheses  which  have  greatly  affected  all  subsequent  legislation  and 
which  have,  without  question,  given  a  direction  to  the  social  relations  of 
the  English-speaking  people. 

Adam  Smith,  working  on  a  true  inductive  method  after  as  wide  an 
investigation  of  the  facts  of  life  as  the  records  of  his  time  permitted, 
prepared  the  way  for  the  development  of  modem  industry  and  com¬ 
merce.  Had  he  published  the  “Wealth  of  Nations  ”  but  a  few  years 
earlier  than  177 6,  the  futile  attempt  of  the  ten  million  people  who  then 
inhabited  the  island  of  Great  Britain,  might  never  have  been  under¬ 
taken,  to  control  by  force  the  commerce  and  industry  of  the  three 
millions  who  then  occupied  the  colonies  of  America  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  benefiting  or  adding  to  the  gains  of  those  who  assumed  to 
govern  them.  But  there  was  not  time  for  the  new  conception  of 
commerce  and  of  what  made  the  Wealth  of  Nations,  which  Adam 
Smith  presented,  to  pervade  the  minds  of  the  people  of  England  before 
the  War  of  the  Revolution  occurred.  This  war  was  distinctly  the  result 
of  the  economic  error  which  was  the  basis  of  the  so-called  mercan¬ 
tile  theory  of  trade,  to  wit,  that  in  all  international  commerce  what 
one  nation  gained  another  must  lose  ;  from  which  false  premise  came 
the  conception  of  the  English  and  of  all  other  European  nations,  that 
the  object  in  establishing  and  holding  colonies  in  other  parts  of  the 
world  was  to  secure  the  sole  control  of  their  traffic. 

It  followed  of  necessity  from  this  misconception  of  the  nature 
of  commerce,  that  the  attempt  was  made  to  control  the  industries  of  the 
colonies  by  force,  this  attempt  long  preceding  the  further  effort  to 
impose  taxation  without  representation.  Force  was  met  by  force,  and 
the  necessary  separation  of  the  great  colonies  of  America  from  the 
mother-country,  which  might  have  taken  place  at  a,  later  period  by 
peaceful  methods,  was  brought  about  by  war,  engendering  an  animosity 
which  has  hardly  ceased  to  affect  the  public  mind  even  down  to  the 
present  day. 

A  little  later  Malthus  attempted  to  formulate  a  law  of  population 
upon  the  basis  of  utterly  insufficient  data  compiled  in  a  crude  way. 
There  were  then  no  complete  national  statistics  upon  which  reliance 


8 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


could  be  placed  or  which  could  be  safely  cited  in  support  of  his  views. 
He  attempted  to  prove  that  the  tendency  of  population  is  to  increase 
faster  than  the  means  of  subsistence,  and  he  even  adopted  the  mathe¬ 
matical  formula  which  is  now  very  often  cited  as  if  it  were  an  absolute 
truth,  that  “  population  tends  to  increase  in  a  geometrical  ratio  while 
the  means  of  subsistence  increase  only  in  an  arithmetical  ratio.”  This 
hypothesis  is  utterly  without  warrant  either  in  fact  or  in  experience 
Malthus  appears  to  have  had  no  imaginative  faculty,  a  very  essential 
quality  in  dealing  with  economic  questions.  He  therefore  could  not 
forecast  the  future  nor  foretell  the  wonderful  results  that  would  be  at¬ 
tained  through  the  new  scientific  discoveries  and  the  better  understand¬ 
ing  of  the  art  of  production  and  of  distribution  which  had  begun  even 
in  his  own  day  to  work  a  profound  change  in  the  relations  of  men  to 
each  other. 

Ricardo,  a  banker,  chiefly  engaged  in  affairs,  was  governed  by  the 
limitations  of  a  rigid  accountant  and  an  observer  of  what  is  called  the 
money  market.  His  treatment  of  the  whole  question  relating  to  bank¬ 
ing  and  currency  is  of  the  most  valuable  kind.  His  theory  of  rent, 
however,  was  wholly  based  upon  the  misconception  that  the  material 
products  of  the  earth  depend  upon  certain  inherent  qualities  of  the 
soil,  varying  in  different  places  and  subject  to  exhaustion.  He  did  not 
conceive  of  any  method  by  which  the  soil  might  be  used  as  an  instru¬ 
ment  of  material  production,  subject  to  an  increase  of  production 
in  proportion  to  the  measure  of  intelligence  as  well  as  of  the  labor  and 
capital  expended  upon  it.  Hence  the  fallacy  of  his  alleged  law  of 
diminishing  returns  from  land  in  proportion  to  the  labor  and  capital 
put  upon  it.  He  omitted  the  mind  of  man  in  his  treatment  of  the  land 
question,  and  thereby  omitted  the  prime  factor  in  all  material  produc¬ 
tion,  even  from  the  soil. 

The  hypotheses  that  population  tends  to  increase  faster  than  the 
means  of  subsistence,  and  that  land  tends  to  yield  diminishing  returns, 
to  some  extent  obscured  the  broader  view  of  Adam  Smith,  and  gave  a 
very  narrow  conception  to  the  teachings  of  the  school  of  English 
economists  until  a  very  recent  period.  It  may  now  be  affirmed  that  a 
true  philosophy  of  Social  Science  which  must  now  almost  of  necessity 
be  developed  upon  the  inductive  method  and  on  the  basis  of  experience, 
may  not  have  been  capable  of  treatment  by  any  European  writers  until 
very  recently,  on  account  of  the  necessary  limitations  due  to  their 
environment.  The  experience  of  nations  which  have  been  subject  in 
the  past  to  method^  of  government  based  upon  privilege  assumed  to 
have  been  derived  from  Divine  right,  cannot  be  taken  as  the  basis  for 
rules  which  should  be  applied  to  free  nations.  On  the  one  hand  the 
conceptions  of  the  English  school  of  economists  could  not  be  applied 
to  the  conditions  of  India  ;  and  on  the  other  hand  they  may  not  be  ap- 


Consumption  Limited ,  Production  Unlimited. 


9 


plicable  to  the  very  different  conditions  of  this  country  ;  yet  the  very 
existence  and  general  application  of  these  views  of  the  English  writers 
have  profoundly  affected  the  conditions  of  all  the  English-speaking 
people,  including  ourselves  ;  and  one  or  the  other  of  the  concepts  of 
Malthus  or  Ricardo  modified  in  some  degree  by  Mill  have  governed  or 
influenced  nearly  every  writer  on  economic  science  in  this  country. 
They  have  imparted  to  the  minds  of  those  who  have  adopted  them, 
either  consciously  or*otherwise,  the  hopeless  conception  that  in  the  end 
the  distribution  of  the  necessaries  of  life  must  be  compassed  by  force, 
and  that  the  possession  of  land  and  of  all  other  instruments  of  produc¬ 
tion  and  of  distribution  must  ultimately  rest  upon  force.  Such  must  be 
the  necessary  conclusion  from  these  conceptions,  it  being  very  evident 
that  whenever  the  time  shall  arrive  when  the  means  of  subsistence  are 
not  sufficient  for  the  support  of  an  increasing  population  of  which  the 
surplus  can  no  longer  migrate,  the  rule  of  survival  must  of  necessity 
become  the  rule  of  the  survival  of  the  strongest,  the  most  cunning,  the 
most  subtile.  From  these  premises  follows  also  the  necessary  conception 
of  a  government  by  privilege  sustained  by  force,  rather  than  of  a 
government  established  by  the  consent  of  the  governed. 

In  an  indirect  and  perhaps  somewhat  obscure  way  these  false  con¬ 
ceptions,  especially  Ricardo’s  theory  of  rent,  have  had  a  very  great 
influence  upon  the  English  customs  of  land  tenure  and  upon  the 
conduct  of  the  internal  affairs  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  although 
the  views  of  Adam  Smith  have  for  about  one  generation  only,  con¬ 
trolled  her  foreign  commerce.  The  present  difficulties  in  Ireland  may 
be  attributed  to  the  false  concepts  of  English  rulers  for  the  last  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years,  and  to  the  efforts,  which  only  ceased  with  the 
present  century,  to  destroy  great  branches  of  industry  in  Ireland  lest 
great  branches  of  industry  in  England  should  suffer  from  .their 
competition. 

Among  our  own  students  of  economic  science  the  hypotheses  of 
Malthus  and  Ricardo,  coupled  with  the  false  theory  of  wages  sustained 
by  Mill  until  a  very  late  period  in  his  own  life,  have  also  held  a  con¬ 
trolling  influence. 

Great  progress  has,  however,  been  made  within  the  last  few  years  in 
defining  the  true  source  of  wages  and  in  proving  that  wages  constitute 
a  share  of  the  product  for  the  time  being,  in  which  production  capital 
aids  but  is  not  the  source,  since  even  the  annual  sum  of  wages  could 
nowhere  be  paid  out  of  pre-existing  capital. 

On  this  line  of  investigation,  perhaps,  Professor  J.  E.  Cairnes 
opened  the  way  more  than  any  other  writer. 

The  influence  of  the  German  School  of  State  Socialists,  coupled 
with  the  so-called  Collective  theory  of  production,  has  pervaded  and 
perhaps  perverted  the  minds  of  a  great  many  of  our  younger  men  ;  but 


to  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 

no  very  substantial  addition  to  economic  science  has  been  made  by 
theoretic  writers  or  by  students  of  social  science  in  this  country,  except 
in  the  compilation  and  application  of  the  most  adequate  statistics 
which  are  rapidly  becoming  available  for  use.  The  best  economic 
work  yet  done  in  this  country  has  been  the  study  of  the  facts  and  con¬ 
ditions  of  life  in  a  country  substantially  free  from  the  inherited  privi¬ 
leges  of  the  past,  on  which  the  basis  of  a  true  science  may  be  laid. 

It  would  perhaps  be  invidious  to  mention  names,  but  those  of  Wells, 
Walker,  Wright,  White,  Hadley,  Fink,  Smith  of  Columbia,  Taussig, 
Laughlin,  Seligman,  and  many  others  are  presented  to  the  mind  almost 
instinctively,  whose  work  in  the  compilation  of  social  data  or  in  their 
application  is  rapidly  bearing  fruit.  There  are  many  others  whose 
names  are  not  yet  much  known  beyond  the  limits  of  their  own  States, 
who  are  compiling  the  data  upon  which  a  true  economic  science  may 
hereafter  be  established.  There  is  not,  of  course,  an  American  science 
of  Political  Economy  any  more  than  there  can  be  a  French,  German, 
or  English  science  ;  but  a  true  inductive  science  may  only  be  evolved 
in  a  country  in  which  production  and  distribution  are  no  longer  gov¬ 
erned  by  status  or  by  force,  but  are  almost  wholly  conducted  under 
free  contracts  entered  into  for  mutual  service. 

If  the  hypothesis  of  Ricardo  were  entitled  to  be  considered  as  a 
principle  of  universal  application,  then  the  necessary  conclusion  would 
be  that  poverty  would  of  necessity  accompany  progress  ;  and  you  will 
observe  that  the  fallacies  of  Henry  George  in  relation  to  the  possession 
of  land  are  based  upon  the  Ricardian  theory  of  rent.  If  mankind  may 
not  hold  such  control  over  the  production  of  the  means  of  subsistence 
as  may  ultimately  assure  the  welfare  of  each  and  all,  then  the  restora¬ 
tion  of  slavery  might  be  justified  or  the  restriction  of  the  ballot  would 
alike  be  called  for.  Government  by  privilege  might  then  become  a 
wiser  method  than  government  by  the  consent  of  all  the  governed. 

I'  It  may  be  somewhat  presumptuous  for  one  who  has  but  little  time 
for  the  study  of  economic  literature  to  presume  to  put  forward  an 
hypothesis  which  is  counter  to  the  theories  of  most  of  the  well-read 
men.  As  I  have  already  said,  I  do  not  pretend  to  be  a  very  well-read 

V  economist  ;  but  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  it  may  be  an  advantage  for 
any  one  who  has  a  reasonably  good  faculty  for  observation,  coupled 
with  a  power  of  reasoning  from  the  facts  which  are  now  easily  brought 
within  the  observation  of  any  student,  that  he  should  be  free  from  the 
bias  which  comes  to  the  special  student  who  crams  himself  with  book 
knowledge. 

Social  science  is  not  like  the  physical  sciences  or  the  mathematics, 
one  in  which  certain  fundamental  propositions  may  be  laid  down  a 
priori ,  which  are  to  be  taken  as  proved  and  must  therefore  be  accepted 
as  the  basis  of  all  subsequent  reasoning.  There  is  no  Euclid  to  be  con- 


Consumption  Limited ,  Production  Unlimited.  1 1 

suited  in  this  social  work  ;  economic  science  is  yet  vague  in  its  con¬ 
cepts  seeking  for  a  solid  foundation,  inductive  and  not  deductive, — 
rather  than  yet  finding  one.  It  is  therefore,  perhaps,  more  expedient 
that  one  should  have  mastered  the  principal  theories  of  a  few  of  the 
great  masters,  and  should  then  refrain  from  giving  more  time  and 
attention  to  the  variation  in  the  application  of  these  theories  by  the 
less  important  writers.  He  may,  perhaps,  be  more  capable  than  they 
have  been  of  testing  these  theories  from  his  own  observation. 

The  late  President  Garfield  had  very  clear  convictions  upon  all 
these  questions,  and  had  he  lived  he  might  perhaps  have  become  a 
leader  of  thought  had  his  political  courage  been  equal  to  his  con¬ 
victions.  He  told  me  that  he  dated  his  intellectual  life  from  listening 
to  a  lecture  by  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  given  in  the  old  parish  church 
in  Williamstown,  in  the  only  year  which  he  had  been  able  to  spare  from 
work  to  be  devoted  to  college  training, — of  which  lecture  all  that  he 
could  remember  was  that  Emerson  said  :  “  Mankind  is  as  lazy  as  it 

dares  to  be.” 

One  may  venture  in  such  an  address  as  this  to  be  a  little  egotistical, 
since  there  is  more  teaching  by  example  than  by  precept.  I  date  my 
own  intellectual  life  from  the  reading  of  “  Sartor  Resartus  ”  ;  after  that, 
Carlyle’s  “  French  Revolution  ”  ;  then  from  listening  to,  and  personal 
acquaintance  with  Theodore  Parker  ;  but  my  interest  in  Political 
Economy,  which  Carlyle  denounced  as  the  “  dismal  science,”  was  only 
fully  aroused  when. the  incomplete  but  most  suggestive  treatises  of 
Frederic  Bastiat  first  fell  into  my  hands  ;  I  commend  them  to  you. 

Many  of  you  may  hereafter  have  as  little  time  as  I  have  had  to 
continue  the  study  of  books.  Must  you  then  accept  the  dogmatic 
teaching  of  others  ?  By  no  means.  Work  out  your  own  mental  as 
well  as  your  own  material  salvation  ;  and  if  you  do  it  with  a  right 
purpose  you  may  even  add  a  little  to  the  common  stock  of  ideas  as 
well  as  things — perhaps  adding  more  than  you  take  away.  That  is  the 
way  the  world  gets  on. 

In  my  own  way  I  have  reached  a  certain  general  conclusion,  perhaps 
itself  a  priori  j  it  is  this  :  There  must  be  a  scientific  basis  by  which  the 
relations  of  men  are  governed,  and  on  which  the  material  products  of 
the  earth  must  ultimately  be  distributed  so  as  to  conduce  to  the  com¬ 
mon  welfare,  else  the  power  which  controls  all  does  not  rule  all  things 
well. 

I  observe  that  in  dealing  with  all  other  material  processes  of  nature 
it  has  become  apparent  that  there  is  a  tendency  to  equilibrium  or  har¬ 
mony  in  all  the  forces  by  which  the  universe  is  governed  ;  and  I  look 
for  the  same  harmony  in  the  social  relations  of  men.  How  shall  this 
harmony  be  attained  ?  It  has  pleased  God  to  make  that  problem  the 
true  work  of  our  lives. 


12 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


This  faith  in  the  Divine  purpose  of  every  life  and  in  the  final  attain¬ 
ment  of  welfare  here  or  hereafter,  it  matters  not  which,  is,  for  myself,, 
the  only  nexus  between  religion  and  life.  It  is  the  creed  by  which  I 
test  all  dogmas  and  theories — theological,  political,  or  economical, — it 
is  the  little  star  to  which  I  have  hitched  my  wagon,  and  which  will 
guide  me  on  my  way  even  if  no  one  else  can  see  it.  I  advise  you  all, 
whatever  your  vocation  may  be,  to  establish  a  creed  in  your  own  minds 
which  shall  be  your  own,  and  also  to  take  up  a  hobby  wholly  aside 
from  your  necessary  work  in  getting  a  living. 

In  attempting  to  evolve  the  laws  of  social  science  or  the  relations  of 
men  to  each  other  in  the  material  world,  may  we  not  conclude  by 
analogies  drawn  from  the  physical  world  that  in  the  correlation 
of  forces  there  must  be  an  equilibrium  in  which  harmony  will  be 
attained  ?  Read  Bastiat’s  “  Harmonies  of  Political  Economy,”  incom¬ 
plete  and  imperfect  as  it  is. 

Consider,  for  instance,  heat  and  cold  ;  we  know  that  there  is  a 
margin  of  many  thousand  degrees  between  extreme  heat  and  extreme 
cold  ;  we  also  know  that  if  for  a  single  moment  the  thin  shell  of  atmos¬ 
phere  or  vapor  which  protects  the  earth  from  the  sun’s  rays  were  swept 
aside,  the  earth  itself  might  become  a  cinder.  We  also  know  that  the 
continued  existence  of  vegetable  and  animal  life  upon  the  earth  rests 
substantially  within  the  limit  of  one  hundred  degrees  Fahrenheit ;  yet 
that  equilibrium  within  that  range  has  been  established  for  unknown 
generations. 

We  also  know  that  if  from  any  cause  the  internal  heat  of  the  earth 
were  to  be  lowered  a  little  below  the  present  plane  which  is  very  near 
the  surface,  water  would  disappear  ;  then  our  earth  would  be  desic¬ 
cated  ;  yet  the  equilibrium  of  these  forces  has  been  maintained  for  an 
unmeasured  period  under  conditions  which  are  consistent  with  the  ex¬ 
istence  of  life  ;  and  life,  so  far  as  we  may  reason  about  it,  may  yet 
continue  for  unnumbered  generations.  Who  can  measure  the  eternal  ? 

“  High  over  space  and  time  it  rides, 

The  high  thought  that  can  never  alter.” 

If  then  there  is  an  equilibrium  in  the  forcesN  of  nature  which  makes 
life  possible,  may  we  not  predicate  upon  that  fact  the  existence  of  a  law, 
although  we  cannot  yet  formulate  it,  on  which  we  may  assume  that 
there  must  be  an  ultimate  equilibrium  between  material  life  and  the 
means  of  living  ? 

Our  statistics  of  population  do  not  yet  cover  a  single  century  with 
any  approach  to  accuracy,  yet  a  law  of  diminishing  population  begins 
to  be  perceived  even  in  prosperous  and  peaceful  countries,  in  spite  of 
the  huge  abundance  in  the  means  of  living  and  the  improvements  in 
distribution,  and  notwithstanding  that  the  average  duration  of  human. 


Consumption  Limited ,  Production  Unlimited. . 


*3 


life  is  prolonged  in  each  century  beyond  that  of  the  previous  one. 
Statistics  begin  to  prove  that  there  is  a  law  governing  the  growth  of 
population  which  is  not  enforced  by  any  artificial  method  of  limiting 
the  existing  population  to  the  present  means  of  subsistence.  On  the 
basis  of  this  creed,  as  I  have  called  it,  I  have  ventured  to  seek  for  some 
broad  generalization,  which  may  not  yet  be  capable  of  proof,  and  which 
may  be  still  only  an  hypothesis,  but  which  shall  be  wholly  consistent 
with  the  conception  of  a  beneficent  power  creating  and  governing  the 
world  and  ruling  all  things  well.  I  have  ventured,  therefore,  to  say  that , 
on  the  basis  of  the  statistics  compiled  in  recent  years,  it  may  soon  be 
proved  to  be  a  rule  or  law  oflife  that  the  power  of  mankind  to  con¬ 
sume  the  means  of  subsistence  is  limited,  while  on  the  other  hand,  the 
power  of  mankind  to  produce  and  distribute  the  means  of  subsistence  i 
is  practically  unlimited.  ^  If 

I  have  frequently  ventured  in  conversation  to  try  this  hypothesis 
upon  different  people,  and  the  very  surprise  with  which  it  has  been 
received  goes  to  prove  that  the  counter-proposition  has  unconsciously 
governed  the  thought  of  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  thinking  people 
even  of  this  country. 

In  support  of  this  rather  startling  proposition  it  may  be  suitable  to 
point  out  again  that  material  life  is  itself  only  a  conversion  of  material 
forces  into  a  new  form  ;  but  man  is  the  only  animal  that  accumulates 
experience  and  thereby  attains  the  power  to  give  a  new  direction  of  a 
permanent  kind  to  these  forces  of  nature  ;  he  therefore  frees  himself 
from  subjection  to  the  law  of  the  survival  either  of  the  strongest,  the 
most  subtile,  or  the  most  cunning  ;  he  attains  the  power  to  exist  and 
multiply  by  dominating  the  forces  of  nature,  thereby  increasing  pro- . 
duction,  and  makes  prdgress  by  exchanging  services  with  his  kindred. 
Under  these  conditions,  the  survival  of  the  intelligent  and  the  capable 
becomes  assured  because  they  are  the  fittest  to  survive. 

We  derive  the  greater  part  of  the  means  of  subsistence  from  the 
soil,  a  little  from  the  sea  ;  now  if  we  regard  the  soil  as  a  laboratory  in 
which  the  forces  of  nature  may  be  converted  into  food  in  just  propor¬ 
tion  not  only  to  the  labor  and  capital,  but  to  the  mental  capacity  of  him 
who  makes  use  of  the  soil  as  an  instrument  of  production,  in  place  of 
working  land  merely  as  a  mine  that  may  be  exhausted,  we  find  that 
there  is  as  yet  no  limit  that  can  be  put  upon  the  production  of  the 
land  ;  no  man  can  say  that  any  single  acre  of  land  anywhere  has  been 
exhausted  ;  and  no  man  can  prove  that  any  single  acre  anywhere  has 
ever  yet  produced  the  maximum  of  food  which  could  be  produced  from 
it  in  proportion  to  the  work  done.  In  California  an  inventor  who  is 
also  a  farmer  has  lately  applied  machinery  of  his  own  construction  to  a 
little  bit  of  the  soil  of  a  single  county,  a  farm  of  three  thousand  acres 
In  Tulare  County,  with  such  effect  that  the  product  of  wheat  of  three 


14 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


hundred  days’  work  of  one  man,  which  is  equal  to  one  year’s  steady 
occupation,  may  in  a  fair  season  come  to  nine  thousand  bushels  * 
deducting  enough  for  seed,  this  product  would  yield  an  average  of  a 
barrel  of  flour  each  to  about  eighteen  hundred  people  ;  if  we  charge 
this  wheat  with  the  cost  of  distribution  from  California  to  Great 
Britain,  this  one  man  can  supply  one  thousand  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Great  Britain  with  bread.  This  is  the  modern  miracle  of  the  loaf. 

Down  in  Florida  a  little  while  ago  I  came  across  an  old  New  Eng¬ 
land  sea-captain  who  had  become  familiar  with  the  value  of  the  cassava 
root,  when  trading  in  South  America.  One  of  his  neighbors,  a  colored 
man,  had  complained  to  him  that  a  bit  of  land  he  was  trying  to  culti¬ 
vate  was  chuck  full  of  roots  ;  “  he  could  n’t  get  ’dem  roots  out”;  the 
Yankee  on  looking  at  the  roots  found  them  to  be  the  cassava  from 
which  tapioca  is  made  ;  he  planted  an  acre  and  a  half  the  season  before 
I  visited  him  ;  and  on  the  product  of  that  little  patch  he  had  fed  seven 
cows,  two  horses,  three  calves,  and  several  hogs  for  seven  months,  and 
he  still  had  a  considerable  part  of  his  roots  to  draw  upon.  The  butter 
which  his  wife  had  just  churned  was  good,  wholesome,  yellow  butter, 
such  as  I  am  familiar  with  on  my  own  place  ;  not  white,  waxy  and 
tasteless. 

What  else  is  there  in  the  way  of  roots  that  we  yet  know  but  little 
about?  Nitrogen  is  the  most  expensive  element  in  fertilizing  the  soil 
or  in  feeding  man  and  beast ;  yet  the  larger  part  of  our  atmosphere 
consists  of  nitrogen.  Who  can  tell  how  soon  the  chemist  may  find  out 
a  quicker  way  of  converting  the  nitrogen  of  the  atmosphere  into  a  form 
in  which  it  may  become  food  for  plants  ?  There  are  plants  which  in 
some  way  or  somehow  appear  to  derive  their  nitrogen  directly  from  the 
atmosphere  ;  these  are  the  renovating  plants  which  are  turned  under, 
clover,  buckwheat,  etc. ;  the  cow-pea  vine  is  one  of  them,  familiar  to 
you  all  (and  if  I  am  rightly  informed,  the  common  expression  for  poor 
land  is,  “That  ’ere  land  aint  even  fit  to  grow  pea-vines  on”).  The 
mushroom  is  full  of  nitrogen  ;  who  knows  how  soon  the  botanist  may 
enable  the  growers  of  mushrooms  to  produce  tons  to  the  acre  in  place 
of  the  little  basketful  which  we  seek  to  gather  from  our  own  private 
preserves  that  we  never  tell  any  one  else  where  to  find  ?  The  deserted 
tunnels  in  the  California  gold  and  silver  mines  are  now  being  made  use 
of  to  grow  mushrooms  for  the  market,  perhaps  yielding  a  product 
which  will  be  more  useful  and  profitable  than  either  the  gold  or  silver 
that  would  be  taken  from  them. 

Suffice  it  that  throughout  this  century,  a  century  in  which  science 
has  been  more  fully  applied  to  production  and  distribution  than  ever 
before,  the  means  of  subsistence  have  been  gaining  rapidly  upon  the 
population  of  the  globe  ;  and  from  the  very  time  when  Ricardo  pro¬ 
pounded  his  hypothetical  theory  of  rent,  and  laid  down  the  supposed 


Consumption  Limited ,  Production  Unlimited.  15 

law  of  diminishing  returns  from  land,  the  man  who  has  farmed  with 
brains  rather  than  with  hands  has  been  able  to  obtain  a  steadily  increas¬ 
ing  product  with  a  diminishing  quantity  of  labor. 

So  far  as  there  are  any  statistics  which  can  be  relied  upon  for  proof, 
the  proposition  or  hypothesis  which  I  have  just  substituted  for  consider¬ 
ation  is  more  fully  sustained  than  any  other  economic  proposition 
upon  this  branch  of  social  science. 

If,  then,  there  may  be  such  a  law  governing  and  steadily  increasing 
production  in  ratio  to  the  labor  devoted  to  the  work,  in  what  way  shall 
the  benefit  of  this  law  be  distributed  ?  and  how  shall  the  increased 
production  tend  to  the  common  enjoyment  and  common  wealth  of  rich 
and  poor  alike  ?  That  is  now  the  burning  question. 

I  feel  fully  justified  in  bringing  these  rather  prosy  facts  even  into  a 
Commencement  Address,  because  your  President  who  invited  me  was 
formerly  a  Professor  of  Agriculture  in  Tennessee,  and  it  was  through 
that  that  I  made  his  acquaintance.  I  was  engaged  in  the  investigation 
of  the  system  of  saving  green  crops,  named  ensilage  ;  I  had  ventured 
to  make  a  statement  in  an  address  given  at  the  opening  of  the 
Mechanics  Institute  in  Boston,  the  next  exhibition  immediately  follow¬ 
ing  the  exhibition  at  Atlanta,  in  which  the  minerals,  the  timber,  and 
the  examples  of  then  almost  unknown  resources  of  your  Southern  land 
were  first  brought  to  the  attention  of  South  and  North  alike,  in  Sep¬ 
tember,  1882,  to  this  effect  :  “  If  I  were  to  say  to  you  that  next  to  the 
abolition  of  slavery  and  the  use  of  the  railway  and  the  steamship,  the 
re-discovery  of  the  method  of  saving  green  crops  called  ensilage 
would  prove  to  be  the  most  important  event  in  its  effect  on  the 
material  welfare  of  the  present  century,  you  might  suggest  that  a 
Commission  de  lunatico  inquirendo ,  should  be  appointed  to  examine  the 
condition  of  my  brain  ;  yet  I  venture  to  make  that  statement.”  From 
President  McBryde  I  received  the  best  evidence  then  existing  sustain¬ 
ing  this  view.  He  had  traced  the  silo  back  two  thousand  years,  finding 
it  described  almost  according  to  modern  methods  in  the  Germanica  of 
Tacitus.  Thus  it  is  that  in  one  case,  at  least,  the  classics  and  the 
economics  came  together  ;  and  I  am  justified  even  in  this  old  and 
classical  University  in  talking  plain  prose  about  production. 

It  is  also  alleged  that  just  before  the  first  shot  was  fired  at  Fort 
Sumter  one  of  your  South  Carolina  chemists  was  analyzing  the  mineral 
phosphates  of  your  coast ;  some  one  brought  him  the  Ordinance  of 
Secession,  and  asked  him  what  he  thought  of  it.  He  somewhat  im¬ 
patiently  replied,  “  That ’s  not  what  South  Carolina  needs  ;  she  needs 
manure.”  I  leave  it  to  you  whether  the  chemist  was  justified  or  not. 

I  have  said  that  the  main  question  now  at  issue  is  not  one  of  pro¬ 
duction,  but  of  distribution.  What  have  you  young  men  to  do  in  this 
matter?  YouTfaveTearned  only  in  recent  years  that  in  personal  liberty 


1 6  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 

there  is  opportunity.  Until  freedom  has  been  established  throughout 
this  broad  land  there  could  have  been  no  equal  competition.  We  are 
approaching  the  end  of  the  century  of  the  greatest  wars  recorded  in 
history  ;  we  are  nearing  the  end  of  a  century  in  which  national  debts 
incurred  almost  wholly  for  war  purposes  will  either  have  been  paid,  or 
else  in  part  or  wholly  repudiated  because  they  cannot  be  paid.  Even 
at  this  time  when  the  preparation  for  possible  war,  which  is  even  more 
burdensome  than  active  war  itself,  is  eating  out  the  very  heart  of  Eu¬ 
rope,  may  we  not  venture  to  predict  that  war  itself  will  soon  become 
an  anachronism  ?  Let  me  call  upon  you  to  join  with  me  in  thanking 
God  that  the  Potomac  had  not  become  the  Rhine,  separating  two  rival 
and  hostile  nations,  each  maintaining  different  institutions,  which  would 
have  led  to  antagonism  and  would  have  rendered  the  waste  of  standing 
armies  and  the  maintenance  of  heavy  taxes  of  the  most  destructive 
kind,  as  necessary  on  this  continent  as  they  are  thought  to  be  necessary 
to  the  existence  of  nations  in  Europe. 

May  we  not  take  courage  from  a  backward  glance  ?  It  is  but  a  few 
centuries  since  even  a  private  war  gave  a  title  to  honor.  It  is  only  a 
few  years  since  the  private  duel  became  a  crime  and  a  dishonor  even 
in  this  country.  It  will  be  but  a  few  years  before  the  captains  of  in¬ 
dustry  will  take  precedence,  while  the  captains  of  the  army  may  become 
but  the  officers  of  a  police  force  organized  chiefly  for  the  maintenance 
of  civil  order  ;  to  which  position  we  have  already  substantially  rele¬ 
gated  our  little  army  in  this  country,  in  which  the  final  establishment 
of  the  principle  of  liberty  has  almost  done  away  with  the  necessity  for 
any  force  in  the  conduct  of  our  affairs. 

Again  :  I  may  now  venture  even  here  to  recall  the  fact  that  while 
the  great  Civil  War  devastated  our  own  country,  yet  for  many  years 
the  treaty  of  reciprocity  in  trade  with  Canada  had  so  united  the  people 
even  of  that  foreign  Dominion  with  ourselves,  that  not  one  single  sol¬ 
dier  was  sent  to  guard  that  long  northern  flank,  and  not  one  ship  of 
war  was  required  to  defend  our  ports  against  our  neighbor.  Mark  the 
contrast  ;  and  also  mark  the  influence  for  wrong  which  may  come  from 
restrictions  which  one  nation  may  place  in  the  way  of  the  mutual  ser¬ 
vice  of  its  people  and  those  of  another  country.  The  petty  tax  which 
we  have  so  unwisely  maintained  on  the  salt  fish  and  smoked  herring  of 
Canada  has  brought  us  to  the  very  verge  of  a  quarrel,  of  such  a  nature 
that  a  single  unwise  word  or  act  might  have  precipitated  us  into  a 
wicked  war. 

Whether  we  will  or  not,  the  welfare  of  mankind  depends  upon  the 
true  comprehension  of  the  nature  of  commerce.  To  the  friendly  con¬ 
test  in  the  pursuit  of  industry  we  of  the  North  welcome  you  of  the 
South.  You  have  most  difficult  problems  to  be  solved  ;  you  have  ob¬ 
structions  to  progress  to  be  overcome,  and  so  have  we  of  the  North. 


I 


Consumption  Limited,  Production  Unlimited.  1 7 

We  may  well  remind  ourselves  alike  that  the  highest  type  of  manhood 
has  been  developed  under  the  most  adverse  conditions  and  in  places 
where  the  struggle  for  material  life  has  been  the  most  rather  than  the 
least  severe.  The  dangers  and  difficulties  which  we  have  yet  to  sur¬ 
mount  in  our  respective  sections  differ  in  kind  but  not  much  in  degree. 
Ignorance  and  incapacity  are  with  us  all.  Twenty-eight  per  cent,  of 
the  present  population  of  Massachusetts  are  foreign-born  ;  more  than 
fifty  per  cent,  of  foreign  birth  or  parentage.  Can  we  bring  all  into 
subjection  to  law  through  intelligence  rather  than  by  force  ? 

I  think  the  most  prosperous  country  that  I  ever  visited  is  the  little 
kingdom  of  Holland,  where  the  men  who  made  the  state  made  the  very 
land  itself  on  which  the  state  is  founded,  over  which  they  laid  their 
smooth  brick  roads  for  the  conduct  of  their  trade,  and  built  their  great 
water-ways  to  the  sea  for  the  conduct  of  their  commerce,  a  hundred 
years  or  more  before  a  single  good  modern  highway  existed  in  England 
although  the  Romans  had  left  the  vestiges  of  their  great  Roman  roads 
built  by  them  nearly  two  thousand  years  before  as  an  example  of  what 
might  be  done.  Witness  the  long  struggle  of  the  Dutch  to  maintain 
their  liberty,  of  which  it  is  written  by  their  great  historian  that  although 
not  producing  a  single  grain  of  wheat  they  ate  the  whitest  bread  in  Eu¬ 
rope  ;  and  although  they  were  subjected  during  their  long  struggle  with 
Spain  to  taxes  which  before  the  end  took  up  one  half  the  product  of 
the  whole  people,  yet  they  came  out  of  that  struggle  for  liberty  rich 
and  strong,  and  more  powerful  than  they  had  ever  been  before.  How 
did  they  accomplish  this  ?  Was  it  not  in  the  pursuit  of  trade,  com¬ 
merce,  and  industry  ?  While  the  Spaniard  sent  his  armed  ships  to  con¬ 
quer  foreign  lands,  reducing  the  inhabitants  to  slavery  and  bringing 
back  treasures  of  gold  and  silver,  which  rendered  the  nation  poor  be¬ 
cause  they  were  secured  by  rapine, — the  Dutch  sent  out  their  fishing 
fleet  and  supplied  the  Spaniards  at  home  with  food  at  the  cost  of  a 
large  share  of  this  very  treasure,  gaining  wealth  by  the  fruits  of  their 
commerce,  while  the  Spaniards  grew  poor  even  on  their  ill-gotten  gain  ; 
and  when  the  Spaniards  again  craved  the  wealth,  seeking  to  recover  it 
by  conquest  of  the  Dutch  and  to  plunder  them  as  they  had  plundered 
their  own  colonies,  the  very  seamen  who  had  been  trained  in  the  Dutch 
fishing  fleet  manned  their  navy  and  beat  off  their  would-be  oppressors. 

It  begins  to  appear  from  the  true  history  of  the  last  two  or  three 
centuries  that  the  most  potent  cause  of  war  among  men  in  modern 
times  has  been  the  false  conception  of  the  functions  of  commerce. 

It  may  be  held  that  the  material  well-being  of  this  country  has  been  5 
secured  more  fully  by  that^  clause  in  our  Constitution  which  forbids 
State  interference  with  commerce  between  the  States,  than  by  any 
other  of  the  provisions  of  our  organic  law.  Under  these  conditions 
each  section  is  free  to  develop  its  resources  in  its  own  way.  I  am  also 


1 8  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 

profoundly  convinced  that  the  true  education  consists  in  home  educa¬ 
tion  ;  in  the  development  of  the  schools,  the  colleges,  and  even  the 
universities  in  which  the  foundation  is  laid  just  where  the  best  work  of 
the  future  is  to  be  done.  The  post-graduate  courses  in  special  lines 
may  be  concentrated  elsewhere,  as  they  are  in  the  Johns  Hopkins 
University  in  Baltimore,  and  as  they  are  to  some  extent  at  Harvard. 
You  will  bear  in  mind  that  I  speak  to  you  as  a  man  of  affairs  addressing 
those  on  whom  the  conduct  of  affairs  in  your  own  State  and  in  your 
own  vicinity  will  mainly  rest,  and  who  will  develop  the  productive  in¬ 
dustry  of  your  own  section  in  just  the  measure  that  you  learn  that  the 
mind  of  man  is  the  prime  factor  in  all  arts. 

I  have  said  that  tjie  main  question  now  pending  is  not  one  of  pro¬ 
duction  j  an  abundance  is  already  assured  in  this  land  for  this  and  for 
many  generations  yet  to  come.  The  main  question  now  at  issue  is  that 
of  distribution How  shall  the  several  sections  of  this  country  share  not 
only  in  providing  the  abundance  but  in  securing  an  equitable  distribu¬ 
tion  of  their  respective  products,  receiving  in  return  that  part  of  their 
s uJts2 ste nee  which  they  obtain  bv  exchange  ? 

Let  me  now  call  your  attention  to  what  I  think  is  the  most  wonder¬ 
ful  chapter  in  economic  history,  the  true  bearing  of  which  neither  you 
nor  I  can  yet  measure  nor  estimate — to  wit,  the  industrial  progress  of 
the  South  since  the  way  to  material  progress  and  prosperity  was  first 
opened  by  the  establishment  of  personal  liberty  throughout  this  whole 
broad  land. 

I  may  venture  perhaps  to  treat  this  subject  in  a  very  concise  way  at 
this  time,  because  it  will  fall  to  you,  the  graduates  of  this  and  of  other 
Southern  Universities,  to  supply  the  mental  factor  which,  as  I  have 
already  said  to  you  is  the  prime  factor  in  material  production  and 
in  material  welfare.  With  respect  to  certain  products  you  hold  almost 
a  monopoly,  and  monopolies  are  perhaps  more  dangerous  to  those  who 
purport  to  enjoy  them  than  they  are  to  those  who  are  subject  to  pay  for 
them.  It  is  fortunate  for  you  that  you  have  not  the  absolute  control  of 
the  cotton  trade.  There  is  just  enough  possibility  of  competition  else¬ 
where  to  compel  you  to  apply  science,  skill,  and  economy  to  the  growth 
and  preparation  of  this  great  necessary  staple  ;  and  you  have  a  great 
margin  for  improvement  to  work  upon.  Your  supremacy  in  the  produc¬ 
tion  of  the  cotton  fibre  is  due  to  the  gift  of  God  and  not  to  the  skill  of 
man  ;  you  have  the  temperate  climate,  cold  enough  in  winter  to  prevent 
the  cotton  plant  becoming  a  perennial ;  you  have  the  great  central 
range  of  mountains  gathering  the  moisture  from  the  winds  that  blow  in 
over  the  Gulf  Stream,  precipitating  them  in  showers,  seldom  in  destruc¬ 
tive  floods  ;  you  have  the  strong  soil  of  the  upper  country  over  which 
the  glacial  drift  never  passed  and  from  which  the  phosphates  so  neces¬ 
sary  to  the  production  of  cotton  have  not  yet  been  washed  out  ;  you 


Consumption  Limited ,  Production  Unlimited .  19 

have  the  lowland  soil  redeemed  from  the  shallow  sea,  full  of  minute 
shell  and  other  elements  of  fertility  yielding  the  phosphates  so  neces¬ 
sary  to  the  production  of  the  seed  of  cotton  which  is  the  true  function 
of  the  cotton  plant,  the  fibre  being  only  the  wing  of  the  seed.  The  seed 
takes  fifty  pounds  of  phosphate  from  the  soil  to  each  bale  of  cotton, 
while  the  fibre  takes  but  four.  In  these  natural  conditions  you  excel 
all  other  areas  of  the  world  in  which  cotton  grows  except  Egypt  and  the 
region  on  the  Paraguay  and  the  Parana  rivers  now  being  so  rapidly  set¬ 
tled  by  the  Italians.  So  long  as  the  Egyptians  are  despoiled  and  de¬ 
prived  of  personal  liberty  as  they  are  now  and  always  have  been  by  the 
oppression  of  debt  and  taxes  to  which  the  people  never  gave  their  con¬ 
sent,  and  of  which  it  is  the  disgrace  of  civilization  to  enforce  the  pay¬ 
ment  since  that  payment  almost  reduces  the  population  to  starvation — 
you  have  not  much  to  fear  from  them,  although  the  staple  of  their 
cotton  is  better  than  yours  and  although,  as  a  rule,  it  is  better  prepared 
for  market.  Of  course  in  making  this  comparison  I  take  no  cognizance 
of  the  little  crop  of  Sea  Island  cotton  which  does  not  belong  to  the  use¬ 
ful  class  and  only  serves  for  purposes  of  luxury.  You  may  be  subject 
to  competition  in  the  somewhat  distant  future  when  the  region  on 
the  Paraguay  and  the  Parana  rivers  is  fully  settled,  and  the  atten¬ 
tion  of  the  Italians,  who  have  been  bred  in  habits  of  the  closet  economy 

and  thrift,  is  given  to  the  production  of  the  cotton  fibre.  You  may _ 

then,  if  not  sooner,  be  forced  to  change  your  methods  of  treating  your 
cotton  in  the  preparation  of  the  bale  and  on  its  way  to  market.  There 
is  no  great  commercial  staple  so  barbarously  treated  as  the  cotton  bale 
of  the  South  even  at  this  time,  except  the  crude  products  of  the  most 
barbarous  races  of  Asia  and  Africa.  This  is  not  a  pleasant  thing  to 
say;  but  observe  Ahat.un.savmg,_waste4hure  is  a  great  margin  of  profit 
which  the  intelligence- of-tEe-S6uth,-may_reap  even,  from  this  improve¬ 
ment,  when  the  present  bad  method  is  acknowledged.  Yet  in  spite  of 
what  has  still  to  be  done,  witness  the  vast  progress  that  has  been  made 
even  on  this  very  line. 

The  first  pamphlet  that  I  ever  published  was  printed  in  the  year 
1861,  entitled  “  Cheap  Cotton  by  Free  Labor”  ;  and  in  that  pamphlet 
I  had  brought  together  all  the  evidence  which  even  then  existed,  pre¬ 
cisely  as  it  does  now,  of  the  value  of  the  seed  of  the  cotton  ;  I  made 
the  record  either  in  that  pamphlet  or  in  a  subsequent  magazine  article 
I  forget  which,  that  if  there  were  a  variety  of  the  cotton  plant  which 
would  grow  in  the  Northern  States,  producing  no  staple  and  only  seed, 
it  would  become  one  of  our  most  valuable  products.  You  have  now 
but  just  discovered  this  new  source  of  wealth  which  had  been  known  in 
China  for  five  hundred  years  or  more.  While  the  cotton  seed  rotted  to 
waste  in  the  olden  time,  your  sugar  cane  craved  the  phosphates  which 
cotton-seed  meal  now  supplies  after  the  oil  has  been  expressed.  That 


20 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


is  now  known,  and  the  sugar  cane  is  fertilized  as  it  had  been  in 
Formosa  for  five  hundred  years.  I  see  that  some  one  has  just  dis¬ 
covered  that  the  ground  hulls  mixed  with  the  meal  make  a  better  food 
for  stock  than  the  over-rich  meal  fed  by  itself.  In  that  again  there  is 
nothing  new  ;  I  called  attention  to  it  long  ago. 

Again  you  may  have  such  an  advantage  in  the  production  of  iron 
as  may  eifable  you  to  draw  a  large  part  of  that  branch  of  industry  away 
from  some  of  the  places  where  it  is  now  conducted,  as  that  work  was 
taken  away  from  New  England  and  from  other  points,  when  anthracite 
coal  was  substituted  for  charcoal  in  dealing  with  the  ore.  But  it  will 
not  be  by  the  direct  establishment  of  the  production  of  pig-iron  or  crude 
steel  that  the  general  welfare  of  the  South  will  be  assured,  whatever 
may  be  the  gain  in  personal  wealth.  It  is  the  cotisumption  of  iron  which 
marks  the  progress  of  a'  state,  not  its  production. 

In  1880  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  yielded  about  one  half  the  pig-iron 
produced  in  the  whole  United  States  ;  and  if  we  should  take  the  esti¬ 
mate  of  the  representatives  of  that  State  in  respect  to  the  importance  of 
this  branch  of  industry,  we  might  almost  fear  that  the  State  of  Penn¬ 
sylvania  would  suffer  from  the  competition  of  Alabama  ;  but  such  will 
be  very  far  from  being  the  fact.  If  Alabama  can  send  up  to  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  a  larger  supply  of  pig-iron  and  crude  steel  at  less  cost  than  it  can 
be  produced  within  her  own  limits,  Pennsylvania  will  make  the  greater 
gain.  In  1880  the  population  of  Pennsylvania  was  nearly  four  and  one 
half  millions,  of  whom  nearly  one  and  one  half  millions  were  occupied 
in  gainful  work  in  the  conduct  of  all  the  arts  of  life.  How  many  do 
you  think  it  required  of  all  this  great  army  of  industry  to  work  the  iron 
mines,  the  coal  mines  which  supplied  the  blast  furnaces,  and  the  blast 
furnaces  themselves,  from  which  nearly,  or  quite  one  half,  the  pig-iron 
of  the  country  was  sent  out  to  be  put  to  use  ?  Only  about  thirty-five 
thousand  men  and  boys  out  of  nearly  a  million  and  a  half  did  this 
work.  If  the  South  should  take  this  art  away  from  eastern  Pennsyl¬ 
vania,  a  few  great  chimney-stacks  may  remain  as  reminders  of  by-gone 
work  ;  but  when  you  send  to  her  mechanics,  to  her  artisans,  to  her 
machinists,  to  her  engine-builders,  to  her  tool-makers,  to  her  black¬ 
smiths,  to  the  hundreds,  or  even  thousands,  by  whom  iron  is  consumed 
where  there  are  ten  engaged  in  its  production,  even  in  that  State,  then 
the  little  force  of  men  discharged  from  beneath  the  ground  or  from  the 
mouth  of  the  fiery  furnace  may  find  higher  occupation  and  better  pay 
in  the  consumption  of  iron  and  steel  in  Pennsylvania  than  they  ever 
found  in  making  iron  there. 

These  examples  bring  me  to  the  point  to  which  I  urgently  call  your 
attention.  The  secret  of  prosperity  and  of  widely  diffused  welfare  does 
not  lie  within  the  walls  of  the  great  factory  ;  it  is  not  to  be  viewed  by 
the  light  of  the  blast  furnace  ;  it  is  not  hidden  in  the  dark  interior  of 


Consumption  Limited ,  Production  Unlimited.  2 1 

the  bowels  of  the  earth  ;  these  are  but  the  crude  factors  ;  it  does  con¬ 
sist  in  the  thousand  little  arts  which  spring  up  in  the  sunshine  of  per¬ 
sonal  liberty  which  make  the  village,  pervade  the  farm,  and  bring  men 
and  women  into  closer  and  better  human  relations  than  those  either  of 
the  factory,  the  furnace,  or  the  mine. 

It  has  been  a  favorite  idea  of  my  own  for  many  years,  long  before 
we  heard  so  much  of  manual  training  and  of  the  laboratory  method  of 
teaching  the  mechanic  arts,  that  in  every  University  a  Chair  should  be 
established  to  be  occupied  by  the  Professor  of  Gumption.  You  smile, 
and  maybe  ask  what  I  mean.  I  mean  a  kind  of  instruction  which  shall 
educe  faculty,  versatility,  observation,  readiness,  aptitude,  and  dexterity. 
I  could  not  myself  lay  down  the  course  of  study  or  name  the  text-books, 
though  perhaps  I  might  teach  the  art  myself. 

I  have  referred  to  the  bad  treatment  of  the  cotton  bale.  Jo  the 
young  man  who  possesses  gumption  there  is  the  way  to  fortune  in  saving 
a  part  of  that  waste.  In  the  department  of  the  University  devoted  to 
the  Art  of  Gumption,  one  of  my  rules  would  be  that  in  each  year  two 
or  three  months  should  be  devoted  to  journeying  on  foot  through  the 
land,  as  the  German  Burschen  used  to  and  perhaps  do  now,  in  order 
that  each  young  man  might  find  out  how  little  people  know,  and  also 
how  much  less  he  knew  himself  than  almost  any  one  else.  In  this  way 
he  might  find  out  that  the  true  object  of  the  University  is  to  learn  how 
to  begin  an  education,  and  to  know  where  to  go  and  what  authorities 
to  consult  in  its  future  conduct. 

If  the  student  were  to  start  with  only  enough  money  to  bread  him¬ 
self  for  a  week,  and  were  obliged  to  pay  his  way  on  the  rest  of  his  jour¬ 
ney,  the  more  lessons  he  would  learn  in  gumption  and  the  more 
opportunity  for  applying  it.  There  is  hardly  a  machine  or  a  process  of 
industry  now  in  use  or  practice  that  will  not  be  out  of  date  in  twenty 
years,  and  the  great  fortunes  of  that  day  will  be  in  possession  of  those 
who  save  the  force  that  is  now  wasted.  That  State  will  be  ahead  which 
buys  the  most  rags  and  sells  the  most  paper.  But  we  need  not  wait 
twenty  years  to  learn  this  fact.  The  young  man  endowed  with  gump¬ 
tion  may  begin  to  observe  the  pre-historic  methods  of  spinning  and 
weaving  in  the  heart  of  the  Land  of  the  Sky.  He  may  find  the  wayside 
furnace  and  the  old  Catalan  forge  for  making  iron,  in  southwestern 
Virginia,  and  as  he  passes  on  his  way  he  may  even  observe  some  traces 
of  older  methods  of  chemistry  applied  to  moonshine  distillation. 

Emerging  from  these  primitive  places  in  which  time  has  worked  so 
little  change  in  two  centuries,  we  may  find  every  type  of  progress,  from 
the  small  factory  or  forge-working  for  the  neighborhood  up  to  the  great 
factory  in  which  a  margin  of  profit  of  a  quarter  of  a  cent  a  yard  suffices, 
and  where  the  highest  wages  are  earned  in  making  a  product  at  the 
lowest  cost.  The  whole  history  of  many  arts  that  have  required  centuries 


22 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


for  their  evolution  may  be  studied  in  its  progress  in  the  course  of 
a  thirty  day’s  vacation. 

Not  many  months  ago  two  of  my  Southern  friends,  Mr.  Breckinridge 
of  Kentucky,  and  Mr.  Wilson  of  West  Virginia,  visited  Boston.  They 
were  on  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  and  they  desired  to  look 
over  some  of  the  branches  of  industry  in  Massachusetts,  on  whose 
materials  or  products  they  might  be  called  to  legislate.  They  were  put 
in  the  way  of  visiting  the  great  factories  ;  I  went  with  them  to  one 
large  city  where  I  had  arranged  that  after  they  had  been  through  the 
factory  they  should  go  to  one  of  the  factory  boarding-houses  and  par¬ 
take  of  the  customary  meal  which  is  furnished  to  the  factory  operatives, 
the  best  breakfast,  dinner,  and  supper  that  could  be  had  for  the  price 
anywhere  within  my  knowledge,  and  I  have  made  a  special  study  of  the 
distribution  and  the  use  of  food.  They  returned  to  the  city  much  im¬ 
pressed  with  what  they  had  seen.  In  the  evening,  when  dining  with  me 
and  with  some  other  friends,  I  said  to  them  :  “  I  wish  you  would  come 
to  my  office  to-morrow  morning,  and  I  will  take  you  to  the  points  where 
you  will  find  reason  to  change  your  conclusions  if  you  think  you  have 
touched  the  secret  of  New  England.  You  think  you  have  touched  that 
secret,  do  you  not  ?  ”  “  Why,  yes,”  they  said  ;  “we  might  think  so  ”  ; 

to  which  I  replied  :  “You  have  not ;  all  that  you  have  seen  is  common¬ 
place  ;  where  I  shall  take  you  to-morrow  I  do  not  know,  but  in  an  hour 
I  will  disclose  the  secret  which  is  open  to  all  who  possess  gumption.” 
They  came,  and  we  went  up  a  narrow  court  opposite  the  Old  South 
Church,  into  a  nest  of  buildings  plastered  all  over  with  little  signs,  a 
busy  hive  of  industry  covering  arts  almost  without  number.  In  the 
first  room  we  entered  we  found  two  men  beating  out  gold-leaf  for  the 
dentist  ;  in  the  next  we  found  a  man  and  a  boy  seated  by  a  little  fur¬ 
nace  and  a  little  forge,  shaping  steel  knife-blades,  too  busy  to  stop  the 
little  trip-hammer,  or  even  to  speak  to  us  ;  in  the  next,  half  a  dozen 
men  working  in  wood,  turning  out  athletic  implements  of  various  kinds  ; 
and  so  on  ;  and  when  the  hour  was  over  I  said  to  my  friends  :  “  Come 
back  here  and  stay  a  week,  and  in  every  fifteen  minutes  of  ten  hours 
of  each  day  I  will  take  you  to  the  places  where  in  the  making  of  the 
goods  and  wares  there  is  the  making  of  the  man  as  well,  and  even  then 
I  shall  not  have  begun  to  exhaust  the  tale  of  the  lesser  arts  for  which 
gumption  is  required.” 

I  have  been  rejoiced  in  my  more  recent  visits  to  your  Southern  land 
to  see  how  this  secret  is  being  disclosed  to  you.  Don’t  think  that  you 
are  to  succeed  in  competition  with  the  North  by  way  of  long  hours  of 
work  and  low  wages  in  the  factory  or  in  the  mine.  You  will  not  subject 
us  to  any  serious  danger  in  the  control  of  the  thousand  industries 
until  you  have  learned  the  whole  secret,  that  shorter  hours  and  higher 
wages  bring  low  cost  of  production  where  gumption  has  been  taught, 


Consumption  Limited ,  Production  Unlimited .  23 

and  where  the  leisure  earned  by  him  who  does  the  work  in  the  best 
way  becomes  the  opportunity  for  the  diligent  and  intelligent  use  of  his 
spare  time.  It  is  on  these  lines  that  you  should  devote  that  mental 
factor  which  is  the  prime  factor  in  material  progress  in  every  single  art 
on  which  true  prosperity  can  be  predicated. 

Your  pig-iron,  in  which  you  may  hold  supremacy,  may  reach  a 
huge  proportion  in  the  eyes  of  those  who  cannot  see  through  a  plate  of 
iron  ;  but  when  I  look  through  the  plate  of  iron  to  something  beyond, 
I  find  that  the  hens’  eggs  sent  to  market  from  the  barnyards  of  the  land 
to  be  consumed  every  year,  are  without  question  more  than  equal  in 
value  to  the  largest  annual  product  of  pig-iron  ever  made  in  this  country. 

It  is  somewhat  embarrassing  to  repeat  myself,  but  as  I  am  a  special 
student  of  the  art  of  nutrition  I  will  again  venture  to  touch  upon  a 
somewhat  scientific  demonstration  of  the  great  progress  of  your 
Southern  people  during  the  present  generation,  and  I  will  repeat  a 
little  story  that  I  once  told  at  Atlanta.  Lord  Truro,  the  head  of  a 
commission  of  inquiry  of  some  sort  in  Great  Britain,  wrote  to  me  two 
or  three  years  since  to  ask  if  I  could  give  any  explanation  of  the 
“  deterioration  of  the  American  man  ”  ;  he  appeared  to  take  it  for 
granted  that  such  a  deterioration  had  occurred,  and  that  I  should  give 
him  the  reason  for  it.  Well,  I  used  to  think  myself  only  an  average 
man  in  size,  height,  and  weight  at  home,  but  when  I  made  my  first  visit 
to  England  I  was  rather  surprised  to  find  myself  a  tall  and  large  man 
by  comparison  with  those  whom  I  passed  in  the  streets.  A  little  later 
I  learned  of  the  comparisons  which  had  been  made  by  Dr.  Henry 
Bowditch  in  respect  to  the  size,  height,  weight,  and  physical  develop¬ 
ment  of  the  class  of  young  men  who  go  to  the  universities  and  higher 
institutions  of  learning  in  England  and  in  this  country.  He  had  proved 
conclusively  that  the  boys  in  our  higher  schools  and  the  young  men  in 
our  universities  were  taller,  heavier,  stronger,  and  better  developed  than 
the  average  English  boys  at  Eton  and  Harrow,  or  of  the  young  men 
of  the  same  age  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  But  I  was  a  little  puzzled 
how  to  prove  a  general  rule  to  the  satisfaction  of  my  economic  friend. 
It  then  occurred  to  me  that  for  a  long  term  of  years,  sufficient  to  prove 
a  rule,  the  people  of  this  country  had  been  clad  in  ready-made  clothing. 
I  had  learned,  when  studying  that  branch  of  industry  on  its  economic 
side,  that  in  every  thousand  garments  there  were  certain  proportions  of 
given  sizes  around  the  chest,  the  waist,  and  of  given  length  of  leg.  I 
sent  a  circular  of  inquiry  to  a  large  number  of  clothing  manufacturers, 
from  which  I  received  returns  which  probably  covered  their  experience 
in  making  betweeen  one  hundred  million  and  two  hundred  million  suits 
of  clothing  during  the  last  thirty  years.  Of  these  replies,  among  others 
three  were  from  firms,  one  in  St.  Louis,  one  in  Baltimore,  and  one,  I 
think,  in  Cincinnati,  whose  trade  had  been  mainly  with  the  South. 


24 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


These  replies  attracted  my  attention.  Each  stated  that  in  former  days 
your  Southern  men  were  longer  in  the  leg  than  they  were  big  around 
the  waist,  but  within  the  last  few  years  the  waist  has  grown  an  inch  to 
an  inch  and  a  half  on  the  average,  and  now  measures  more  than  the 
length  of  leg.  To  the  head  of  each  of  these  establishments,  which  had 
given  their  opinion  independently  of  the  others,  I  put  the  question  : 
“What  is  the  cause  of  this  change  ?  ”  And  each  one  answered,  in  his 
own  way  :  “  The  better  conditions  of  life,  and  the  better  nutrition  due  to 
the  progress  of  industry  in  the  Southern  States  account  for  this  change.” 

Am  I  wrong  in  bringing  all  these  commonplace  ideas  into  a  Com¬ 
mencement  Address  ?  What  else  can  you  expect  from  one  who  missed 
the  training  of  the  college  ? 

You  young  men  are  about  entering  upon  the  work  of  life,  and  I 
have  about  done  with  it.  The  poet  says  to  you  : 

“  Life  is  before  ye,  and  as  now  ye  stand 
Eager  to  spring  upon  the  promised  land, 

Fair  smiles  the  way  where  yet  your  feet  have  trod 
A  few  light  steps  upon  a  flowery  sod.” 

You  have  passed  four  years  in  your  undergraduate  course  ;  you  are 
about  to  take  up  your  professional  studies  or  to  enter  directly  into  the 
struggle  for  life.  To  many,  perhaps  to  all,  the  urgent  question  now  is  : 
What  shall  be  the  measure  of  your  compensation  ?  In  common 
speech  :  What  will  be  the  rate  of  your  wages?  We  all  work  for  wages,, 
material  or  immaterial  ;  we  stake  or  wager  our  time,  our  intelligence, 
our  physical  afforts  against  the  return  which  those  whom  we  attempt  to 
.serve  will  render  to  us  as  the  price  of  our  effort.  When  we  begin  the 
true  work  of  adult  life  few  of  us  have  ever  yet  rendered  any  service  ; 
we  have  cost  the  community  all  that  we  have  consumed  ;  but  we  have  - 
not  produced,  or  added  to  the  production  of  any  thing  ;  how  shall  we 
become  entitled  to  either  a  small  or  a  great  prize,  material  or  immate¬ 
rial,  out  of  the  future  product  ?  The  question  which  every  man  may 
rightly  put  to  himself  when  choosing  his  function,  is  this  :  What  is  the 
service  that  I  can  render  by  which  I  may  become  entitled  to  my  own 
gains,  whatever  they  may  be  ? 

The  measure  of  your  compensation  will  not  be  your  own  estimate 
of  what  you  can  do,  nor  may  it  be  in  any  measure  corresponding  to  the 
cost  of  putting'  you  where  you  are.  It  may  not  even  be  the  measure  of 
what  you  produce  if  you  take  part  in  material  production.  For  want 
of  gumption  you  may  work  hard  and  yet  produce  little  or  nothing  of 
what  people  want,  because  they  already  have  a  plenty,  as  of  cotton,  for 
instance. 

The  true  measure  of  the  dollars  of  your  gain  will  be  what  you  save 
other  people  from  doing.  If  you  are  versatile,  capable,  if  you  have 


Consumption  Limited ,  Production  Unlimited .  25 

gumption,  you  can  do  what  they  think  it  is  necessary  that  some  one 
should  do  for  them  better  than  they  can  do  for  themselves  ;  they  pay 
you  well  for  the  time  and  labor  which  you  save  them.  At  this  standard 
if  you  engage  in  reputable  and  useful  occupation,  the  very  dollars  of 
your  gain,  no  matter  how  numerous  they  may  become,  will  be  the  tokens 
and  the  measure  of  the  services  which  you  have  rendered  to  your  fellow- 
men.  It  is  in  this  way  that  personal  wealth  and  common  welfare  are 
or  may  be  reconciled. 

The  law  of  life  is  the  law  of  service.  We  are  members  one  of 
another,  and  the  very  existence  of  society  rests  upon  the  interdepen¬ 
dence  of  its  members.  The  only  factors  which  are  or  can  be  placed  at 
the  disposal  of  each  and  all  alike  without  distinction  of  race,  color,  or 
condition,  are  time  and  opportunity.  These  being  given  and  equal 
rights  being  secured  under  just  laws,  the  measure  of  your  own  success 
will  be  the  measure  of  the  services  which  you  are  capable  of  rendering 
to  your  fellow-men. 

What,  then,  is  the  measure  of  our  opportunity  ?  It  may  be  rightly 
considered  that  only  a  very  small  part  of  the  population  of  the  globe 
computed  now  at  about  fourteen  hundred  millions,  belong  to  what  may 
be  called  the  machine-using  nations.  The  arts  to  which  modern  labor- 
saving  inventions  have  been  applied  are  to  be  found  in  greatest  measure 
in  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  ;  next  in  the  Netherlands  and 
in  France  ;  and  last  in  Germany  ;  but  these  states  comprise  in  all 
only  about  two  hundred  million  people.  Very  limited  progress  has 
been  made  in  the  application  of  modern  methods  of  industry  toward 
increasing  the  abundance  of  home  production  in  Italy,  Austria,  or 
eastern  Europe  ;  almost  none  in  the  great  continents  of  Asia,  South 
America,  Australia,  and  Africa,  except  in  the  extension  of  the  railway 
systems.  If  then  it  follows  that  by  way  of  the  application  of  science 
and  invention  to  all  the  arts  of  life  an  abundant  product  can  be  attained 
at  low  cost,  then  that  nation  may  attain  the  greatest  benefit  from  the 
progress  of  science  in  which  this  abundant  product  is  free  from  the 
blood  tax  of  the  standing  armies  and  the  money  tax  of  great  national 
debts,  and  in  which  all  the  forces  in  action  tend  to  remove  the  preju¬ 
dices  engendered  by  distinctions  of  race,  privilege,  creed,  or  condi¬ 
tions,  and  to  make  the  whole  body  corporate  one  people.  Among  that 
small  number  of  nations  and  states  in  the  civilized  world  which  I  have 
named,  the  United  States,  England,  the  Netherlands,  France,  and 
Germany,  in  which  modern  inventions  and  modern  machinery  have 
been  most  fully  put  to  productive  use,  who  will  hold  the  advantage  of 
position  ?  Will  it  be  the  English-speaking  people  of  the  United  States 
including  Canada,  as  the  time  is  rapidly  approaching  when  the  people 
of  Canada  will  no  longer  be  prevented  from  exchanging  their  services 
or  products  with  us  by  an  arbitrary  border-line  ? 


26 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


Will  it  be  the  English-speaking  people  on  their  little  island  where 
the  finer  ores  of  iron  are  now  wanting,  and  where  even  the  coal  may 
soon  be  costly  ? 

Will  it  be  the  polyglot  races  who  dwell  apart  from  each  other  on 
the  continent  of  Europe,  still  separated  by  all  the  malignant  forces 
born  of  war  which  tend  to  maintain  the  distinctions  of  race,  privilege, 
caste,  creed,  and  condition  ? 

If  the  interdependence  of  men  and  of  nations  be  admitted,  it  fol¬ 
lows  of  necessity  that  the  exchange  of  products  or  services  among  them 
benefits  both  parties  in  every  exchange.  It  does  not  follow,  however, 
that  the  measure  of  the  benefit  in  terms  either  of  time,  of  money,  or  of 
product  must  be  equal  ;  although  the  exchange  is  that  of  equivalents  in 
money  value.  For  instance,  the  vast  population  of  China,  now  believed 
to  be  nearly  or  quite  four  hundred  million  people,  are  clad  almost 
wholly  in  cotton  and  silk,  the  cotton  ginned  and  the  silk  reeled,  and 

both  fibres  spun  and  woven  wholly  by  hand.  Their  textile  fabrics  are 

* 

therefore  produced  by  the  application  of  the  maximum  of  time  and 
labor  with  a  minimum  of  product.  The  machine-made  fabrics  exported 
from  Europe  and  from  this  country  would  not  suffice  to  supply  ten  per 
cent,  of  the  population  with  their  average  need.  China  can  export  raw 
silk  as  well  as  tea  to  the  advantage  of  consumers  because  no  successful 
method  has  yet  been  invented  for  reeling  silk  from  the  cocoon  except 
by  hand.  It  follows  that  silk  as  well  as  tea  is  the  product  of  handi¬ 
work  of  a  kind  which  calls  for  the  utmost  dexterity  and  skill.  There 
is,  as  all  know,  an  excess  of  population  in  China  capable  of  performing 
these  handicrafts  ;  and  although  the  Chinese  and  the  Japanese  are  in 
some  respects  the  best  educated  people  in  the  world,  technically  speak¬ 
ing,  yet  being  limited  to  hand  work,  wages  are  very  low,  lower  than 
anywhere  except  in  India. 

To  the  extent,  therefore,  to  which  other  nations  will  buy  tea  and 
silk,  the  Chinaman  will  take  in  exchange  cotton  fabrics  and  other  prod¬ 
ucts  made  by  machinery.  In  this  way  her  people  secure  materials 
for  clothing  at  less  cost  than  when  they  produce  them  for  themselves. 

The  capacity  of  a  spinner  or  a  weaver  in  any  of  your  Southern  fac¬ 
tories  in  which  you  are  now  making  coarse  drillings  and  sheetings  re¬ 
quired  in  China,  is  fifty-  to  one  hundred-fold  that  of  the  hand  spinner 
or  weaver  in  China.  If  you  buy  twenty  dollars’  worth  of  tea  it  costs 
perhaps  two  hundred  days  of  Chinese  labor  ;  when  you  sell  twenty 
dollars’  worth  of  drills  or  sheetings  they  may  represent  less  than  twenty 
days  of  American  labor  in  the  field  and  in  the  factory.  But  when  the 
Chinaman  cannot  sell  the  tea  which  cost  two  hundred  days  of  labor, 
and  is  forced  to  make  the  cotton  fabric,  that  fabric  may  cost  him  five 
times  as  much  work  as  it  does  to  make  the  tea,  or  five  hundred  days’ 
work.  In  this  example  you  will  find  an  instance  of  the  rule  which  is 


Consumption  Limited ,  Production  Unlimited.  27 

fundamental,  to  wit :  that  the  rate  of  wages  constitutes  no  standard  of 
the  cost  of  production.  The  compensation  of  the  workman  depends 
upon  two  factors,  his  own  skill  and  the  effectiveness  of  the  capital  or 
machinery  which  shall  be  placed  at  his  disposal  ;  under  these  con¬ 
ditions  it  follows  of  necessity  that  in  proportion  to  the  effectiveness  of 
the  capital,  that  is  to  say,  in  proportion  to  the  application  of  science 
and  invention  to  the  resources  of  a  given  country — or  to  the  resources 
of  a  given  section  of  any  country,  the  wages  or  compensation  of  the 
workman  will  rise  as  the  cost  of  production  will  be  reduced  ;  it  follows 
of  necessity  that  the  rule  of  progress  in  a  given  community  is  this  : 
High  wages  or  earnings  either  in  money  or  in  what  money  will  buy  are 
the  necessary  result  or  consequence  of  a  low  cost  of  production  in  all 
the  arts  to  which  science  and  invention  in  the  concrete  form  of  modern 
machinery  and  tools  can  be  applied.  This  is  but  another  way  of  saying 
what  I  stated  at  the  beginning  of  this  Address, — the  mind  of  man  is  the 
prune  factor  in  fnaterial  production.  It  follows  also  that  where  com¬ 
merce  is  absolutely  free  as  it  is  among  the  States  of  this  Union,  wher¬ 
ever  the  raw  materials  exist  in  greatest  abundance  under  the  most 
favorable  conditions  for  working  them,  either  in  the  mine,  the  field,  or 
the  forest,  there  the  production  of  the  crude  or  primary  forms  of 
manufacture  will  be  conducted  at  the  lowest  cost,  and  at  the  same  time 
under  the  highest  wages  that  can  be  paid  in  such  primary  processes. 
But  since  time  and  space  have  been  almost  eliminated  by  the  railway 
and  the  steamship,  the  cost  of  transferring  many  of  these  crude  ma¬ 
terials  is  but  a  small  element  in  the  cost  of  the  higher  or  complete 
forms  of  manufacture  ;  therefore  the  finer  and  higher  branches  of 
industry  may  be  almost  independent  of  distance,  and  may  be  quite  re¬ 
mote  from  the  place  where  the  crude  materials  are  provided  ;  such 
branches  of  industry  will  centre  at  the  point  where  the  conditions  of 
society  are  the  best ;  where  both  public  and  private  credit  are  the 
highest ;  where  the  skilled  mechanic  can  find  the  best  common  schools 
for  his  children  in  their  earlier  years,  or  the  best  technical  schools  for 
them  as  they  grow  up  ;  where  the  parents  who  can  afford  it  can  find 
the  best  universities  in  which  to  make  the  most  profitable  investment 
for  the  benefit  of  his  children  in  giving  them  a  complete  university 
preparation  for  the  higher  duties  of  life  ;  where  the  savings-bank,  the 
building  society,  and  the  title  insurance  company  make  it  very  easy  for 
any  man  of  moderate  aptitude  or  industry  to  become  the  owner  of  his 
own  dwelling-place  ;  in  other  words,  the  higher  forms  and  the  best-paid 
branches  of  productive  industry  can  be  conducted  under  the  best  con¬ 
ditions  where  population  is  moderately  dense  ;  this  is  the  reason  why 
towns  and  cities  grow  ;  to  such  points  food,  fibres,  and  metals  may  be 
readily  brought,  and  there  all  the  minor  services  on  which  the  inter¬ 
dependence  of  society  rests  may  be  rendered  with  the  least  obstruction. 


28 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


Under  these  conditions  we  of  the  cold  and  sterile  North  welcome 
so  willingly  the  competition  of  the  South  and  West  ;  you  can  provide 
the  means  for  our  welfare  in  far  greater  measure  than  you  can  ever  take 
away  from  us  any  part  of  our  industry  ;  and  we  may  both  gain  by  this 
exchange.  We  could  not  bread  ourselves  for  a  week  ;  our  forests  are 
depleted  ;  we  have  neither  mines,  forests,  nor  fields  on  which  we  can 
any  longer  rely  for  any  full  measure  of  subsistence  ;  we  must  draw  all 
the  materials  on  which  we  work,  and  nearly  all  the  food  that  we  eat, 
from  distant  points  ;  but  so  long  as  we  can  lead  you  in  the  application 
of  science  and  invention  in  the  conversion  of  these  crude  products  into 
the  finer  forms,  we  may  exchange  fabrics  for  fibres,  wares  for  crude 
materials,  shoes  for  leather,  wagons  for  timber  ;  and  on  the  saving  of 
that  which  others  waste,  which  is  now  the  entire  profit  left  in  almost 
any  branch  of  manufacture,  we  may  still  provide  the  capital  by  which 
our  labor  will  be  well  sustained. 

Thus  it  is  that  in  the  “vigorous  prosecution  of  the  pursuits  of 
peace,”  so  well  advised  by  our  Governor  Andrew  at  the  end  of  the 
Civil  War,  each  section,  State,  town,  and  person  may  gain  that  position 
to  which  our  commerce  may  entitle  us,  free  from  the  obstruction  of 
tariffs,  and  free  from  the  burden  of  destructive  taxation  which  now 
oppresses  all  other  machine-using  nations. 

We  are  approaching  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  century 
in  which  the  greatest  progress  due  to  the  application  of  science  and  in¬ 
vention  to  the  production  of  the  means  of  subsistence  has  been  made  ; 
the  century  in  which  ores  have  been  quickly  turned  into  metal  ;  in 
which  steam  has  been  converted  into  power,  although  as  yet  by  crude 
and  wasteful  methods  of  using  fuel  ;  in  which  many  of  the  most  ex¬ 
hausting  processes  of  labor  have  been  relieved. 

We  are  also  near  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century,  a  century  in 
which  the  waste  product  even  of  the  iron-stone  left  after  the  conversion 
of  impure  ores  into  pure  iron  and  steel  will  be  converted  into  food  for 
man  and  fibre  for  clothing,  by  pulverizing  the  phosphatic  slag  and  with 
it  fertilizing  the  lands  which  have  been  wasted  by  ignorant  labor  ;  the 
century  in  which  heat  may  be  converted  directly  into  work,  power,  and 
light  ;  in  which  aluminum,  the  lightest  and  strongest  metal  which 
forms  the  base  of  clay,  may  even  displace  iron  "and  steel  in  common 
use  for  many  purposes  ;  in  which  nitrogen  may  become  a  low-priced  pro¬ 
duct  derived  from  the  cheap  conversion  of  the  force  of  the  atmosphere 
into  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  a  process  almost  sure  to  come  from  the  work 
of  the  French  chemists  and  of  our  own  chemists,  notably  Prof.  Wm.  O. 
Atwater,  of  Connecticut  ;  the  century  in  which  water  will  be  burned 
for  fuel,  and  in  which  power,  light,  and  heat,  under  the  impulse  of  that 
strange  form  of  energy  which  we  name  electricity,  may  be  applied  in 
every  household  at  the  touch  of  a  button  in  the  wall  ;  and  this  will  be 


Consumption  Limited ,  Production  Unlimited .  29 

the  century  in  which  all  the  methods  of  distribution  may  be  as  com¬ 
plete  as  the  power  of  production  shall  have  become  adequate. 

When  this  new  century  begins  one  generation  will  have  passed  away 
since  this  country  was  devastated  by  our  Civil  War  ;  the  fruits  of  the 
war  will  then  be  free  for  the  enjoyment  of  those  who  are  to  come,  and 
who  will  have  been  spared  both  the  pains  and  the  penalties  due  to 
their  fathers’  toleration  of  a  wrong  which  was  inconsistent  with  the 
principle  of  personal  liberty — the  principle  on  which  this  nation  was 
founded  by  our  common  ancestors  :  by  Washington  and  Franklin,  by 
Jefferson  and  Adams,  by  Rutledge  and  Hancock,  by  Patrick  Henry 
and  Alexander  Hamilton,  by  Lee  and  Greene  alike. 

In  the  providence  of  God  our  single  century  of  national  life  is  but 
as  a  day  that  is  past.  We  know  that  it  has  been  the  fate  of  many  whose 
future  welfare  rests  on  you  young  men,  that  in  the  century  that  is  past 
they  were  subjected  to  wrongs  “  darker  than  death  or  night.”  We 
know  that  to  others  it  had  been  given  as  to  you 

“  To  hope  till  hope  creates 

From  its  own  wreck  the  thing  it  contemplates.” 

We  know  that  the  way  to  personal  liberty  has  been  at  the  cost  of 
so  much  blood  and  treasure.  To  that  principle  of  liberty  we  have  all 
surrendered,  and  by  its  power  both  North  and  South  have  been  subdued. 

In  the  new  light  which  now  shines  o’er  all  the  land,  emulating  each 
other  in  the  vigorous  pursuit  of  peace,  order,  and  industry,  we  may 
become  like  the  Prometheus  Unbound,  the  Titan  among  the  Nations. 
Then  you  and  your  children  and  your  childrens’  children,  secure  in 
their  personal  liberty  attained  at  so  great  a  cost,  may  realize  the  very 
vision  of  the  poet ;  then  may  be  established  a  nation  which  shall  be 

“  Good,  great,  and  joyous,  beautiful,  and  free. 

This  is  alone  life,  joy,  empire,  and  victory.” 

This  is  my  second  visit  to  these  noble  halls,  so  like  the  old  colonial 
buildings  of  Harvard,  and  to  your  beautiful  campus.  When  I  first 
came  here,  down  under  the  hill  in  a  great  school  building,  more  than 
nine  hundred  enfranchised  blacks  were  eagerly  striving  to  attain  the 
rudiments  of  an  education  ;  but  here  upon  the  hill  the  voice  of  no 
student  broke  the  silence.  Robert  Barnwell,  ex-senator  of  the  United 
States,  and  then  one  of  the  oldest  living  graduates  of  Harvard  Uni¬ 
versity,  acting  as  librarian,  kept  up  the  continuity  of  your  history.  I 
spoke  hopeful  words  to  him,  and  I  trust  that  he  lived  to  see  the  day 
when  new  life  again  surged  through  your  halls.  When  I  returned 
home  I  told  my  friends  in  Massachusetts  that  only  when  the  univer¬ 
sity  on  the  hill  should  be  as  crowded  as  the  school-house  by  the  side 
of  it,  would  the  true  progress  of  the  South  begin.  That  time  has  come. 


30 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


I,  myself,  missed,  as  I  have  told  you,  the  training  of  the  college, 
but  I  am  an  honorary  member  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  of  Harvard, 
and  from  1877  to  1891  I  shall  have  had  representatives  there,  one  of 
whom  accompanies  me  in  my  present  visit.  As  I  left  her  Class-Day 
festival  to  start  on  my  journey,  I  thought  I  might  venture  to  bring  to 
you  the  fraternal  greeting  of  our  ancient  University,  and  to  that 
President  Eliot  empowered  me  ;  but  when  I  took  in  the  true  signifi¬ 
cance  of  this  greeting,  and  the  meaning  of  the  fact  that  one  should 
be  its  messenger,  for  whom  there  could  have  been  no  welcome  here  at  the 
time  when  he  himself  might  have  been  a  graduate,  I  felt  that  something 
more  than  my  own  feeble  words  were  needed,  and  I  sought  for  living 
words  to  fitly  mark  this  day  ;  with  them  I  will  conclude  an  Address 
which  has  wound  its  devious  way  too  long  and  perhaps  too  far  afield  : 

“  Ring  out  the  old,  ring  in  the  new. 

Ring,  happy  bells,  across  the  snow, 

The  year  is  going,  let  him  go  ; 

Ring  out  the  false,  ring  in  the  true. 

“  Ring  out  the  grief  that  saps  the  mind 

For  those  that  here  we  see  no  more  ; 

Ring  out  the  feud  of  rich  and  poor, 

Ring  in  redress  for  all  mankind. 

“  Ring  out  the  slowly  dying  cause 

And  ancient  forms  of  party  strife  ; 

Ring  in  the  nobler  modes  of  life, 

With  sweeter  manners,  purer  laws. 

“  Ring  out  old  shapes  of  foul  disease  ; 

Ring  out  the  narrowing  lust  of  gold  : 

Ring  out  the  thousand  wars  of  old  ; 

Ring  in  the  thousand  years  of  peace. 

“  Ring  in  the  valiant  man  and  free, 

The  larger  heart,  the  kindlier  hand  ; 

Ring  out  the  darkness  of  the  land  ' 

Ring  in  the  Christ  that  is  to  be.  ’* 


THE  FOOD  QUESTION  IN  AMERICA  AND 

EUROPE 

OR,  THE  PUBLIC  VICTUALING  DEPARTMENT 


THE  FOOD  QUESTION  IN  AMERICA  AND  EUROPE  ; 


OR,  THE  PUBLIC  VICTUALING  DEPARTMENT.1 

IN  the  year  1865  the  average  production  of  grain  to  each  inhabi¬ 
tant  of  the  United  States,  man,  woman,  and  child,  was  thirty-two 
and  one  half  bushels,  consisting  of  Indian  corn,  wheat,  oats, 
barley,  rye,  and  buckwheat. 

In  the  year  1885  the  average  product  was  fifty-two  and  one  half 
bushels,  an  increase  of  more  than  sixty  per  cent. 

The  gain  in  the  production  of  hay,  of  meat,  of  dairy  products,  of 
fruit  and  other  articles  of  food  cannot  be  accurately  measured,  but 
has  doubtless  been  equal  to  th z  per  capita  increase  of  grain. 

If  objection  be  taken  that  the  agricultural  statistics  of  1865  were 
incomplete,  because  taken  so  soon  after  the  war,  reference  may  be 
made  to  the  average  of  the  decade  1865  to  1874  inclusive,  in  which 
years  the  crop  of  grain  averaged  37 bushels  per  head,  as  against 
the  average  of  48^0  bushels  per  head  in  the  years  1875  to  1885 — a 
gain  of  over  twenty-seven  per  cent,  per  capita.  The  gain  is  really 
greater  than  is  indicated  by  this  percentage,  because  the  proportion  of 
our  population  which  was  engaged  in  agriculture  was  less  in  the  sec¬ 
ond  period  than  it  was  in  the  first. 

In  186  r  the  railway  service  between  the  East  and  the  West  had 
for  the  first  time  become  a  unit,  by  the  completion  of  various  sections 
of  railway  connecting  the  whole  system  at  many  points.  The  impor¬ 
tance  of  this  fact  in  its  connection  with  the  power  of  the  North  to 
concentrate  its  armed  forces,  and  to  supply  them  with  food  during  the 
civil  war,  has  yet  to  be  treated.  It  was  an  important  factor  in  the 
power  of  the  North  to  maintain  the  integrity  of  the  nation. 

It  was  not  until  1869  that  the  first  consolidation  took  place  of  a 
through  line  under  one  management,  from  Chicago  to  the  seaboard. 
This  was  then  accomplished  by  the  late  Cornelius  Vanderbilt. 

In  1865  the  average  charge  for  moving  a  ton  of  produce  from 
Chicago  to  the  seaboard,  and  for  moving  general  merchandise  from 

) 

1  Reprinted  from  The  Century  Magazine  for  December,  1886. 

33 


34 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


the  East  to  the  West,  was  at  the  rate  of  three  cents  and  forty-five 
hundredths  per  ton  per  mile.  In  1885  it  was  sixty-eight  hundredths  of 
a  cent  for  the  same  service. 

If  we  take  certain  typical  quantities  of  flour,  beef,  pork,  corn, 
dairy  products,  and  of  fleece  wool,  weighing  thirteen  tons,  their  value 
at  the  market  prices  for  export  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  the  year 
1865  was  $1,124.33,  either  for  export  or  for  domestic  consumption, 
and  they  remained  substantially  at  this  value  during  the  years  1 866, 
’67,  and  ’68 — the  period  of  paper  inflation.  The  cost  of  moving  thir¬ 
teen  tons  one  thousand  miles  over  the  New  York  Central  Railroad 
and  its  connections  in  1865  was  $448.63,  leaving  to  the  producer  or 
his  agent  in  Chicago  the  net  sum  of  $675.70  in  paper  money,  equal  to 
$475.76  in  gold.  The  same  quantities  of  the  same  articles  were  worth 
in  the  city  of  New  York  in  June,  1885,  $575.98  in  gold.  The  cost  of 
moving  them  a  thousand  miles  was  $88.40,  leaving  to  the  producer  or 
his  agent  $487.58  in  gold.  But  in  the  interval  the  efficiency  of  the 
farmer,  measured  by  the  increase  in  the  grain  crop  per  capita ,  had  in¬ 
creased  by  sixty  per  cent.,  so  that  he  could  have  placed  twenty  tons  in 
New  York  in  1885,  as  against  thirteen  tons  in  1865,  the  value  of  which, 
after  deducting  the  freight,  was  $780.13.  These  figures  may  explain 
facts  which  are  of  common  observation.  The  old  mortgage  debts 
have  been  paid,  and  the  rate  of  interest  on  capital  in  the  West  now 
differs  little  from  that  in  the  East  on  the  same  security. 

Thus  it  appears  that,  notwithstanding  a  reduction  of  price  by  one 
half,  the  increased  efficiency  of  the  railway  service  and  the  restoration 
of  the  gold  standard  of  value  have  enabled  the  farmer  of  the  West  to 
grow  rich  on  the  low  price  of  produce,  where  he  would  have  inevitably 
become  poor  under  the  former  system  of  paper  money,  high  prices, 
and  heavy  railway  charges. 

If  we  apply  the  rates  at  the  two  periods  to  flour,  as  an  example 

of  the  average  food  of  the  people,  at  ten  barrels  per  ton  of  2,000 

pounds, — which  is  within  a  fraction  of  the  true  quantity, — the  cost  of 

moving  a  barrel  of  flour  1,000  miles  in  1865  was  $3.45.  In  1885  it  was 

_  * 

68  cents.  The  average  ration  of  wheat-flour  to  each  adult  person  in 

the  United  States  is  well  ascertained  to  be  one  barrel  each  year. 
Our  population  is  now  computed  at  somewhat  over  58,000,000,  or, 
if  we  rate  two  children  of  ten  years  old  or  under  as  one  adult,  we 
number  in  our  consuming  power  50,000,000  adults,  each  requiring 
one  barrel  of  wheat-flour  a  year,  -all  of  which  is  moved  on  the  aver¬ 
age  at  least  1,000  miles  from  the  producer  to  the  consumer.  Before 
railways  were  constructed,  grain  which  was  150  miles  distant  from 
a  waterway  could  not  be  moved  that  distance  without  an  expenditure 
about  equal  to  its  value.  If  wheat  had  been  subject  in  1885  to  the 
charge  of  1865,  the  cost  of  moving  50,000,000  barrels  of  flour  1,000 


The  Food  Question  in  America  and  Europe . 


35 


miles  would  have  been  $172,500,000.  At  the  actual  charge  of  1885 
over  the  New  York  Central  line,  at  the  average  traffic  charge  of  the 
year  on  all  merchandise,  of  68  cents,  the  cost  was  $34,000,000,  a  dif¬ 
ference  of  $138,000,000  on  the  flour  only. 

Bread,  however,  is  a  less  important  factor  in  the  subsistence  of  the 
people  of  this  meat-consuming  country  than  it  is  in  other  countries. 
In  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States  recent  investigations  of  the  Bureaus 
of  Statistics  of  Labor — especially  in  Massachusetts — sustain  the  sub¬ 
stantial  accuracy  of  previous  computations  made  by  the  writer  from 
the  accounts  of  factory  boarding-houses  as  to  the  average  standard 
daily  ration,  or  cost  and  quantity  of  the  daily  supply  of  food  materials 
of  adults  who  are  occupied  in  the  work  of  every-day  life  as  artisans, 
mechanics,  factory  operatives,  or  laborers.  The  average  in  the  fac¬ 
tory  boarding-houses — the  occupants  being  mostly  adult  women — 
comes  to  24  cents  a  day.  A  fair  average  cost  of  food  for  men  and 
women  engaged  in  manufacturing  and  mechanical  arts  appears  to  be 
25  cents  a  day,  varying  in  some  measure  in  respect  to  the  proportions, 
as  the  dietary  of  men  varies  somewhat  from  that  of  women,  working¬ 
men  consuming  more  animal  food  than  the  average  of  factory  opera¬ 
tives,  who  are  mostly  women. 

This  daily  ration  consists  of  the  following  elements  : 


Meat  (including  poultry  and  fish,  a  half  to  one  pound,  according  to  kind 

and  quantity)  at  an  average  cost  of . .  10  cents 

Milk  (half  pint  to  one  pint),  butter  (1  to  \]/2  ounces),  and  a  scrap  of 

cheese .  5  “ 

Eggs  (one  every  other  day)  at  12  cents  a  dozen .  ]/2 


Total  cost  of  animal  food.  .  .  . 
Bread  (about  ^  of  a  pound). . 
Vegetables  (green  and  dry).  .  , 

Sugar  and  syrup . 

Tea  and  coffee . 

Fruit  (green  and  dry)  . 

Salt,  spices,  ice,  and  sundries 


15  Yz  cents 


Average  cost  of  daily  ration .  25  cents 

The  proportions  vary  somewhat  under  different  conditions,  but 
they  may  be  taken  as  a  fair  average  standard  ration  for  adult  workmen 
and  women. 

In  the  West  the  prices  of  meat  and  grain  are  less  ;  the  prices  of 
groceries  somewhat  higher  ;  but,  on  the  whole,  the  same  quantity  of 
food  can  be  purchased  at  somewhat  less  cost.  In  the  South  the  habits 
of  the  people — especially  of  the  colored  race — are  very  different. 
Dairy  products  are  much  less  used,  and  with  the  negro  corn-bread 


36 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


and  bacon  (hog  and  hominy)  take  the  place  of  most  other  varieties 
of  food.  On  the  whole,  however,  the  proportion  of  wheat-bread  to 
the  other  elements  of  the  daily  ration  may  probably  be  established 
at  the  proportion  of  one  tenth  of  the  whole  ration.  If  we,  then, 
save  $138,500,000  per  year  in  the  cost  of  transportation  on  our  bread 
bill  only,  do  we  save  tenfold  on  our  whole  food  supply  ?  Is  our 
food,  on  the  average,  moved  a  thousand  miles,  either  by  railway  or  by 
waterway?  No  exact  reply  can  be  given  to  this  question.  We  find, 
however,  that  the  tonnage  which  was  moved  over  all  the  railways 
of  the  United  States  in  the  year  1883  represented,  on  the  average, 
a  fraction  over  seven  tons  to  each  inhabitant,  man,  woman,  or  child, 
moved  an  average  distance  of  no  miles.  In  1884  this  quantity  was 
slightly  reduced  per  capita ,  but  the  distance  was  a  little  greater. 
The  charge  for  this  service  in  .1884  was  $8.75  per  head  of  the  whole 
population.  In  1885  the  quantity  was  a  little  more,  the  average  per  ton 
a  little  less,  and  the  gross  charge  per  person  was  $8.88.  The  largest 
single  item  of  this  traffic — probably  one  half — consisted  of  food  for 
man  or  beast.  When  to  this  is  added  merchandise  moved  by  water¬ 
ways  and  by  wagon,  and  when  consideration  is  given  to  the  fact  that 
all  these  materials  must  be  sorted,  converted,  reconverted,  and  finally 
distributed  in  small  parcels  by  wagon  or  by  hand,  so  that  every  adult 
person  may  be  sure  to  have  from  three  to  five  pounds  of  solid  food 
and  one  to  two  pounds  of  liquids,  together  Avith  the  necessary  modi¬ 
cum  of  fuel,  clothing,  and  shelter,  the  mere  mechanism  of  subsistence 
can  be  comprehended,  and  the  relative  importance  of  the  victualing 
department  may  be  fully  realized. 

The  average  cost  of  the  food  materials  in  the  Eastern  and  Middle 
States  has  been  given.  The  people  of  these  sections  are  even  more 
dependent  on  the  mechanism  of  distribution  than  any  others.  Their 
proportion  of  the  railway  tonnage  must  be  double,  in  respect  to  dis¬ 
tance,  that  of  the  inhabitants  of  other  sections  ;  and  yet  such  is  the 
perfection  of  the  railway  service  at  the  present  day  that  one  day’s 
wages  of  a  common  mechanic — or  one  holiday  in  a  year  devoted  to 
work  in  Massachusetts,  will  pay  the  cost  of  moving  a  year’s  sup¬ 
ply  of  bread  and  meat  from  the  prairies  of  the  West  to  the  centre 
ot  Eastern  manufactures.  This  fact  cannot  be  too  often  repeated. 

In  view  of  these  data,  if  the  gain  compassed  in  twenty  years  in 
the  cost  of  moving  bread  alone  has  been  $138,500,000  for  one  year, 
Ji£vv  much  do  we  now  save  on  all  the  necessaries  of  life?  No  abso¬ 
lute  reply  will  be  attempted  ;  but  it  may  be  remembered  that  by  way 
of  the  railway,  waterway,  and  steamship  the  whole  world  has  been 
converted  into  a  neighborhood.  Within  the  lives  of  very  many  men 
now  living,  each  little  area  of  this  country  practically  depended  upon 
its  own  labor  for  its  own  food.  To-day  the  wheat  of  Oregon  and  of 


The  Food  Question  in  America  and  Europe . 


37 


California  is  carried  around  Cape  Horn  to  England  at  a  fraction  of  its 
value,  while  half  the  people  of  Great  Britain  derive  their  food  from 
India,  Australia,  and  America,  or  from  fields  which  are  from  six  to 
thirteen  thousand  miles  away.  A  cube  of  coal  which  would  pass 
through  the  rim  of  a  quarter  of  a  dollar  will  drive  a  ton  of  food  and 
its  proportion  of  the  steamship  two  miles  upon  its  way  from  the  pro¬ 
ducer  to  the  consumer.  The  great  hotels  of  New  York  run  special 
railway  cars  for  carrying  eggs  from  Michigan  to  New  York,  and  yet  we 
import  hens’  eggs  in  considerable  quantity  from  Denmark  and  from 
Holland.  If  each  adult  in  the  United  States  consumes  one  egg  every 
other  day,  at  only  twelve  cents  a  dozen,  which  is  the  proportion  of 
the  factory  operatives  of  New  England,  the  value  of  our  hens’  eggs  is 
$91,250,000  per  year,  or  twice  the  value  of  the  product  of  silver  bul¬ 
lion,  25  per  cent,  more  than  the  value  of  our  wool-clip,  and  greater 
than  the  value  of  the  entire  product  of  our  iron  furnaces,  even  if  we 
increase  the  product  of  pig-iron  this  year  to  5,000,000  tons  at  $17  a 
ton,  at  the  furnace,  or  $85,000,000  in  the  aggregate  ;  at  which  figures 
our  iron  industry  would  greatly  prosper. 

I  may  venture  to  give  once  more  a  table  which  shows  statistically  the 
food  bill  of  the  people  of  .This  country,  upon  the  assumption  that  each 
average  adult  ought  to  enjoy  as  good  a  supply  of  food  as  the  adult 
factory  operatives,  mechanics,  and  artisans  of  New  England  and  the 
Middle  States  : 

Per  day.  Aggregate  per  year. 

Meat,  fish,  and  poultry . 10  cts . $1,825,000,000 

Milk,  butter,  and  cheese .  5  “ .  912,500,000 

Eggs  (one  every' other  day) .  “ .  91,250,000 


Animal  food . 

Bread  (f  lb.  per  day) . 

Vegetables . 

Sugar  and  syrup . 

Tea  and  coffee . 

Fruit  (green  and  dry) . 

Salt,  spices,  ice,  and  sundries 


15$  cts 


2 


1 

a 

I 


$2,828,7504)00 

456,250,000 

456,250,000 

365,000,000 

182,500,000 

91,250,000 

182,500,000 


25  cts . $4,562,500,000 

Deduct  probable  excess  on  sugar,  tea,  coffee,  and  dairy  products .  262,500,000 


$4,300,000,000 

Add  spirits  and  fermented  liquors  at  the  average  between  the  estimates 

of  Mr.  D.  A.  Wells  and  the  advocates  of  prohibition  about .  700,000,000 


Probable  pric^  oLlaarLaiid-djink  constituting  the  victualing  department 

for  one  year  at  the  present  time . .$5,000,000,000 


These  figures  are,  as  to  each  separate  item,  greatly  in  excess  of 
ordinary  computations,  very  few  persons  ever  daring  to  estimate  the 


38 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


entire  dairy  product  of  the  country  at  over  two  thirds  the  sum  which 
is  given  in  this  table.  In  explanation  of  this  discrepancy,  I  may  state 
that  few  persons  comprehend  the  great  cost  of  distributing  food  in 
small  parcels  at  retail.  Perhaps  the  most  difficult  problem  in  the 
victualing  department  is  to  reduce  this  element  of  the  cost  of  food. 
For  instance,  in  the  foregoing  dietary  the  estimate  for  bread  is  three 
quarters  of  a  pound  per  day,  at  a  cost  of  two  and  a  half  cents,  which 
would  be  at  the  rate  of  three  and  one  third  cents  per  pound  of  bread,  a 
quantity  corresponding  to  the  ration  of  one  barrel  of  flour  per  year  to 
each  adult,  each  barrel  yielding  two  hundred  and  eighty  pounds  of 
bread.  Now,  there  is  only  one  place  within  my  knowledge  where  good 
bread  can  be  purchased  at  so  low  a  price  as  three  and  one  third  cents 
per  pound  ;  that  is  in  the  shops  of  the  Howe  National  Bakery  in  New 
York.  In  Boston  I  find  the  average  price  of  bread  which  is  sold  in  the 
bakers’  and  grocers’  shops  to  be  more  than  five  cents  per  pound,  at 
which  price  the  larger  population  of  this  city  is  served.  At  five  cents 
per  pound  the  bread  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  would  come 
to  $700,000,000,  in  place  of  $456,250,000.  It  therefore  follows  that  if 
the  food  bill  of  the  people  is  not  in  quantity  what  this  standard  calls 
for,  the  reason  is  that  the  average  dietary  is  not  up  to  this  standard, 
even  after  making  the  admitted  deduction  for  the  excess  of  tea,  coffee, 
sugar,  and  dairy  products  which  is  consumed  in  the  East,  as  compared 
to  other  parts  of  the  country. 

In  order  that  some  idea  may  be  gained  as  to  the  accuracy  of  the 
proportions  which  are  given  in  this  dietary,  I  have  been  enabled,  by 
the  courtesy  of  Mr.  McHugh,  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics 
in  Ohio,  to  give  the  average  cost  of  the  daily  rations  of  the  inmates  of 
the  insane  asylums  and  of_the  reformatory  institutions  of  Ohio.  It  is  as 


follows  : 

Meat  (including  fish  and  poultry) . cents  6T4^ 

Milk,  butter  and  cheese . .  “ 

Eggs . . . “  t3t> 


Animal  food . 

Sugar,  syrup,  salt,  spices,  and  other  £ 

Bread . 

Vegetables  and  fruit  (green  and  dry). 
Tea  and  coffee . 

Total  per  day . 


4  « 

IO 

t  4 

2^ 

4  4 

2lV 

4  4 

2 

4  i 

TO 

i  4 

Number  of  persons  subsisted  for  one  year 


6256 


Many  other  comparisons  might  be  made  from  the  excellent  reports 
of  other  Bureaus  ;  but  this  will  suffice  to  establish  the  proportions  of 
the  victualing  department. 


The  Food  Question  in  America  and  Europe. 


39 


It  is  admitted  that  the  ration  of  sugar,  tea,  coffee,  and  dairy  prod¬ 
ucts  in  the  previous  table  is  too  high  ;  but  if,  after  making  deductions 
for  these  elements  of  subsistence,  the  price  of  whiskey  and  beer  be 
added  at  the  average  between  the  lowest  computation  of  the  skilled 
economist,  Mr.  David  A.  Wells,  say  about  $500,000,000,  and  the  esti¬ 
mate  of  prohibition  advocates,  $900,000,000,  there  can  be  no  question 
that  the  total  cost  of  food  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  is  $5,000,- 
000,000  ;  and  at  this  estimate  it  doubtless  represents  one  half  the  price 
of  life  measured  in  money  to  at  least  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  population 
who  do  the  actual  physical  work  of  the  whole  community. 

T/TuTa  well-established,  fact  that,  with  respect  to  the  more  thrifty 
and  prosperous  classes  of  mechanics,  artisans,  and  other  so-called 
working-classes,  as  well  as  in  regard  to  the  larger  proportion  of  salaried 
classes,  one  half  the  cost  of  living  is  the  price  of  materials  for  food. 
As  we  go  down  in  the  grade  of  work  to  the  level  of  the  common 
laborer  who  can  earn  but  from  80  cents  to  $1.25  per  day,  the  propor¬ 
tionate  cost  of  food  materials  rises  to  60  and  even  70  per  cent,  of  the 
income  of  the  family. 

Thus  it  appears  that,  notwithstanding  the  improvement  in  the 
mechanism  of  distribution,  and  in  spite  of  the  enormous  increase  in 
the  per  capita  product  of  grain  and  other  food,  great  numbers  of  per¬ 
sons,  even  in  this  country,  can  barely  obtain  their  daily  bread,  while 
want  exists  in  the  midst  of  plenty.  Why  is  this  ?  Is  it  not  because 
we  waste  enough  in  ignorant  buying  and  in  bad  cooking  to  sustain 
another  nation  as  numerous,  and  because  no  common  attention  has  yet 
been  given  to  what  may  be  called  the  Art  of  Nutrition?  The  writer 
only  ventures  to  refer  to  this  art  in  anticipation  of  a  series  of  articles 
upon  the  Science  of  Food,  which  are  to  be  given  in  future  numbers  of 
The  Century  by  Professor  W.  O.  Atwater,  to  which  this  article  may 
serve  as  an  introduction. 

It  is  important  to  determine  the  causes  of  these  false  conditions  in 
the  United  States.  More  difficult  yet  are  the  problems  in  such  coun¬ 
tries  as  Ireland  and  Egypt,  each  name  representing  one  of  the  most 
productive  areas  of  the  earth’s  surface,  capable  of  sustaining  a  greater 
population  than  exists  in  almost  any  other  country  in  proportion  to 
area,  and  yet  both  stricken  with  poverty,  almost  with  famine.  Why  are 
fertile  districts  of  northern  Italy  devastated  by  the  pellagra ,  a  loath¬ 
some  disease  which  is  induced  by  insufficient  nutrition  ?  Why  has  the 
Government  of  Germany  undertaken  to  instruct  the  people  in  the  art 
of  nutrition,  lest  the  sordid  conditions  of  great  districts  should  end  in 
socialism,  nihilism,  and  violent  revolution  ?  What  is  the  most  import¬ 
ant  department  in  the  political  questions  of  Europe  to-day  !  Is  it  not 
the  Victualing  Department  ? 

It  must  be  remembered  that,  in  the  nature  of  things,  there  must  be 


40 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


a  substantial  equality  in  the  daily  supply  of  food,  so  far  as  weight  and 
the  elements  of  nutrition  are  concerned.  If  the  masses  of  the  people 
are  to  be  well  nourished,  each  adult  person  must  have  the  due  propor¬ 
tion  of  protein  or  nitrogenous  material,  of  fats,  and  of  carbohydrates  or 
starchy  materials,  because  if  either  one  is  deficient  vital  force  cannot 
be  sustained.  Neither  can  there  be  any  true  mental  vigor  or  spiritual 
life  when  the  body  is  not  well  nourished.  “  Non  est  animus  cui  no?i  est 
corpus.”  So  far  as  any  disparity  can  be  admitted,  the  workingman  or 
common  laborer  requires  more  than  any  one  else.  His  food  is  his 
fuel,  and  his  physical  exertion  must  be  sustained  by  a  sufficient  supply 
with  the  same  regularity  and  certainty  that-  the  boiler  of  the  steam- 
engine  must  be  fed  with  coal  ;  and,  in  fact,  it  will  appear  in  Professor 
Atwater’s  future  treatment  of  this  subject  that,  although  the  standard 
rations  which  have  been  established  as  necessary  to  sustain  a  working¬ 
man  in  full  vigor  by  several  leading  authorities  in  Germany,  France, 
and  England  vary  somewhat  in  the  relative  proportions  of  protein,  fats, 
and  carbohydrates,  yet  when  reduced  to  calories,  or  mechanical  units 
or  equivalents  of  heat,  they  correspond  almost  exactly  each  to  the 
other.  He  will  also  show  that  it  has  been  found  expedient  for  the 
employers  of  labor  in  certain  brickyards  of  Massachusetts  and  Con¬ 
necticut  to  serve  their  workmen  with  a  supply  of  the  best  food  which 
represents  in  its  chemical  proportions,  as  well  as  in  its  calories,  twice 
the  ration  which  is  served  to  the  soldier  of  the  German  army  when 
upon  a  forced  march,  or  when  engaged  in  the  most  arduous  struggle  of 
active  service  in  war,  in  order  to  promote  the  largest  production  of 
brick  per  man  at  the  lowest  cost  to  the  employer. 

The  actual  production  of  the  principle  element  of  food  in  the 
United  States,  to  wit,  the  grain  crop,  has  been  given.  Attention  has 
also  been  called  to  the  perfection  to  which  the  mechanism  of  distribu¬ 
tion  has  been  brought. 

A  few  words  may  now  be  given  to  the  use  of  land — the  source  of 
nearly  all  our  food.  The  arable  portion  of  the  United  States  is  com¬ 
puted  at  more  than  one  half  the  total  area  of  3,000,000  square  miles, 
omitting  Alaska.  Of  this  portion  only  282,500  square  miles  are  yet 
put  to  actual  use  in  the  production  of  grain,  hay,  roots,  or  other  articles 
of  food,  omitting  only  that  proportion  of  animal  food  which  beasts 
derive  from  pastures.  The  several  areas  of  arable,  pasture,  and  moun¬ 
tain  land  are  given  below,  and  in  the  portion  set  off  as  pasture-land  are 
given  the  areas  which  might  suffice  for  a  much  larger  production  of 
beef,  dairy  products,  mutton,  and  wool  than  we  now  enjoy,  if  known 
methods  of  agriculture  were  intelligently  applied  to  these  arts. 

In  the  accompanying  diagram  the  outer  square  indicates  the  total 
area  of  this  country,  omitting  Alaska,  substantially  3,000,000  square 
miles.  This  square  has  been  subdivided  into  three  parts.  The  upper 


The  Food  Question  in  America  and  Europe. 


4i 


half  or  section  represents,  in  a  rough-and-ready  way,  the  arable  land  of 
the  country.  What  is  called  arable  land  really  constitutes  a  larger 
portion,  but  one  half  at  least  may  be  called  fairly  good  land.1 

The  lower  half  is  divided  into  two  sections.  One  of  these  sections 
fairly  represents  pasture  or  grazing  land,  too  dry  for  agriculture  with¬ 
out  irrigation,  but  capable  of  sustaining  great  flocks  and  herds.  The 
other  portion  is  assigned  to  mountain  and  timber.  But  even  this  part 
has  many  fertile  valleys,  and  much  of  it  may  be  made  use  of  for  the 
production  of  food. 


OUR  NATIONAL  DOMAIN. 

WHAT  WE  HAVE  DONE  WITH  IT,  AND  WHAT  WE  MIGHT  DO  WITH  IT. 

Section  i.  Arable  Land — 1,500,000  Square  Miles. 

IN  ACTUAL  USE. 


cn 

3 

O 

V 

0 

G 

rt 

d 

0 

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<5 

I/] 

J  T 

rM  rC  1> 

U  (/)  r—> 

£  i ’s 

O  g 
o  ^ 


c 

9* 

c  o 

s  £ 

O  8 

o\ 


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<D 

rC 

tfl 

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O  °- 


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If. 


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o'  £ 

tr>  ^ 
10 


302,500  square  miles  now  produce  all  our  grain,  hay,  cotton,  sugar,  rice,  and  garden  vegetables. 


Section  2.  Pasture-Land. 


WHAT  MIGHT  SUFFICE. 


in 

t/) 

<D 

0 

OJ 

• — 1 

*— j 

• — 1 

6 

6 

mi 

.  « 

P-  ^ 

D  os 

Si 

V  P 

cq  cr 

^  (fl 

n  cr* 

rH  c/j 

m  .  (7i 

0 

0 

0 

8 

0 

0^ 

8 

0 

0 

0 

VO 

vO 

VO 

(A  square  mile  =  640  acres.) 


Section  3. 


Mountain  and  Timber. 


Compiled  from  the  records  of  the  Agricultural  Department  and  other  sources. 


Within  the  lines  of  the  upper  half,  certain  proportions  drawn  on  the 
same  scale  as  the  outer  square,  which  represents  the  total  area,  will  be 
observed.  These  smaller  sections  represent  proportionately  the  actual 
cultivation,  as  it  now  is,  in  its  ratio  to  the  whole. 

1  The  following  analysis  of  the  use  of  land  has  been  previously  submitted  in 
“  Bradstreet’s  ”  by  the  writer. 


42 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


CORN  AND  PORK. 

Our  average  crop  of  Indian  corn  ranges  from  1,800,000,000  to 
2,000,000,000  bushels.  At  twenty-five  to  thirty  bushels  to  the  acre,  the 
area  of  the  cornfield  is  only  112,500  square  miles,  or  less  than  four  per 
cent,  of  the  total  area  of  the  country.  Our  customary  average  is  less 
than  thirty  bushels,  but  on  the  best  land  fifty  bushels  are  commonly 
produced,  and  sometimes  one  hundred.  Corn  may  be  reduced  to  pork 
at  the  ratio  of  about  one  bushel  to  ten  pounds,  including  waste. 

WHEAT. 

About  60,000  square  miles  are  all  that  are  required  or  are  now  under 
cultivation  in  wheat.  At  only  thirteen  bushels  to  the  acre,  this  little 
patch,  constituting  but  two  per  cent,  of  our  total  area,  would  yield 
500,000,000  bushels  of  wheat.  This  quantity,  after  setting  aside  enough 
for  seed,  would  supply  80,000,000  people  with  their  customary  average 
of  one  barrel  of  flour  per  year. 


HAY. 

A  hay  crop  of  40,000,000  tons,  at  the  average  of  a  good  season,  one 
and  a  quarter  tons  per  acre,  calls  for  less  than  two  per  cent.,  or  50,000 
square  miles. 

OATS. 

The  oat  crop  of  between  500,000,000  and  600,000,000  bushels,  at 
thirty  bushels  to  the  acre,  calls  for  one  per  cent.,  or  30,000  square 
miles. 

COTTON. 

While  the  cotton  crop  has  never  reached  20,000  square  miles,  or  two 
thirds  of  one  per  cent,  of  the  entire  area  of  the  country  (less  than  two 
and  a  half  per  cent,  of  the  area  of  the  strictly  cotton  States),  yet  on 
this  little  patch,  at  the  beggarly  crop  of  one  half  to  three  fifths  of  a 
bale  to  the  acre,  6,000,000  to  7,000,000  bales  can  be  made  each  year. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Lastly,  all  our  miscellaneous  crops  of  barley,  hay,  potatoes,  and 
other  roots,  of  rice,  sugar,  tobacco,  hemp,  and  garden  vegetables,  are 
raised  on  one  per  cent,  of  our  area,  or  30,000  square  miles. 

POSSIBILITIES. 

It  is  perfectly  safe  to  affirm  that,  were  a  reasonably  skilful  mode  of 
agriculture  generally  applied  to  these  crops,  the  area  now  under  culti¬ 
vation  would  yield  all  that  could  be  required  by  double  the  present 
population  of  the  United  States,  and  would  yet  leave  over  as  much  as 
we  now  export. 


The  Food  Question  in  America  and  Europe .  43 

In  the  square  which  has  been  set  aside  to  represent  pasture-land 
certain  subdivisions  have  been  made  which  represent  what  might  be 
done  with  the  land,  not  what  is  done  with  it.  Our  cattle  truly  roam 
over  a  thousand  hills  and  over  wide  plains,  under  the  worst  possible 
conditions  for  the  best  production  of  meat,  or  even  of  dairy  products. 
When  an  intelligent  and  an  intensive  system  of  farming  shall  have  been 
adopted,  and  when  each  one  of  the  Eastern  States  (with  the  possible 
exception  of  Delaware  and  Rhode  Island)  shall  produce  within  its  own 
limits  all  its  own  meat  and  its  own  dairy  products  (as  may  soon  hap¬ 
pen),  the  area  set  off  for  beef,  dairy,  mutton,  and  wool  will  more  than 
suffice. 

BEEF. 

The  area  assigned  to  beef  is  60,000  square  miles.  This  would  yield 
each  year  one  two-year-old  steer  to  every  two  acres.  It  is  now  ad¬ 
mitted,  as  has  been  frequently  proved,  that  sufficient  green  fodder  can 
be  made  and  saved  in  pits,  under  the  name  of  ensilage,  to  carry  two 
steers  to  one  acre.  The  additional  nutriment — meal  from  Indian  corn, 
cotton-seed  meal,  or  hay — has  been  already  provided  for  in  the  area 
set  off  for  these  crops.  At  the  rate  of  one  two-year-old  steer  taken  off 
each  two  acres,  each  adult  inhabitant  of  the  United  States,  counting 
two  children  of  ten  years  or  under  as  one  adult,  could  be  served  with 
very  nearly  one  pound  of  dressed  beef  per  day. 

DAIRIES. 

The  area  set  aside  for  dairy  products  is  also  60,000  square  miles. 
At  the  ratio  of  one  cow  to  each  two  acres,  fed  on  ensilage,  cotton-seed 
meal,  and  a  modicum  of  hay,  there  would  be  a  yield  of  fifty  per  cent, 
more  milk,  butter,  and  cheese  than  the  people  of  the  United  States  now 
enjoy  ;  while  the  eggs,  valued  at  the  present  time  at  not  less  than 
$90,000,000  a  year,  and  probably  at  $120,000,000,  could  also  be  doubled 
in  the  same  area. 

MUTTON  AND  WOOL. 

To  a  similar  area  of  60,000  square  miles  mutton  and  wool  are  as¬ 
signed.  Were  sheep  folded  and  fed  as  they  are  in  England  and  in 
some  parts  of  this  country,  protected  from  cur  dogs  and  properly 
nourished,  wool  to  the  amount  of  500,000,000  pounds  a  year  (which  is 
more  than  our  present  entire  production  and  import)  could  be  readily 
produced  from  this  little  patch,  together  with  a  greater  secondary 
product  of  mutton  and  lamb  than  we  now  consume. 

CONCLUSIONS. 

It  may  therefore  be  inferred  that,  for  the  present  at  least,  there  will 
be  no  danger  of  starvation  within  the  limits  of  this  country,  or  of  the 


44 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


exhaustion  of  our  land.  No  one  yet  knows  the  productive  capacity  of 
a  single  acre  of  land  anywhere.  When  land  is  treated  as  a  laboratory 
and  not  as  a  mine,  subsistence  may  become  more  of  a  science  than  it 
now  is,  and  neither  prosperity  nor  adversity  may  then  be  attributed 
either  to  abundance  or  to  lack  of  land. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  well  to  say  that  the  distribution  of  the 
farm-lands  of  the  United  States  is  one  of  the  most  important  factors  in 
the  social  order.  In  1880  the  census  disclosed  the  following  facts  : 


Total  number  of  farms .  4,008,907 

Cultivated  by  owners .  2,984,306 

Rented  on  shares .  702,244 

Rented  for  money  payments .  322,357 

Average  size  of  farm,  acres .  134 

Farms  of  50  acres  or  less .  1,175,564 

Farms  over  50  and  not  exceeding  500  acres .  2,728,973 

Farms  of  over  500  acres .  104,550 


From  these  facts  it  may  appear  that  if  there  is  want  in  the  midst  of 
plenty  in  our  own  land,  and  if  there  is  any  difficulty  in  procuring  daily 
food,  it  may  not  be  attributed  either  to  lack  of  land,  want  of  capital,  or 
scarcity  of  laborers.  The  modern  miracle  of  the  loaves  is  this  :  One 
man  working  the  equivalent  of  three  hundred  days  in  the  year,  or  three 
men  working  one  hundred  days  in  the  harvest  season  on  the  far  plains 
of  Dakota  in  the  production  of  wheat,  aided  by  one  man  working 
three  hundred  days  in  milling  and  barreling  the  flour,  and  supplemented 
by  two  men  working  three  hundred  days  in  moving  wheat  and  flour 
from  Dakota  to  New  York,  and  in  keeping  all  the  mechanism  of  the 
farm,  the  mill,  and  the  railroad  in  good  repair — four  men’s  work  for 
one  year  places  one  thousand  barrels  of  flour  at  the  mouth  of  the 
baker’s  oven  in  the  city  of  New  York — a  yearly  ration  of  bread  for  one 
thousand  men  and  women. 

What,  then,  is  needed  in  order  that  all  alike  may  have  their  neces¬ 
sary  equal  share  of  food — their  three  to  five  pounds  per  day  of  grain,, 
meat,  vegetables,  and  products  of  the  dairy,  and  the  like  ?  Is  it  not 
a  knowledge^  the  alphabet  of  food  ?  Is  not  the  missing  factor  in  our 
material  welfare  to-day  the  want  of  a  common  knowledge  of  what  food 
to  buy,  and  how  to  cook  it  ?  Half  the  mere  price  of  life  in  money  is 
the  price  of  food.  II  we  add  to  this  the  household  labor  in  its  pro¬ 
portion, UbUTneasure  of  the  cost  of  food  in  terms  of  labor  is  far  more 
Whan  half  the  workoFWife.  How  many  eight-  and  ten-hour  men  have 
fourteen-hour  wives,  whose  work  is  toilsome  and  continuous,  day  in 
and  day  out,  almost  night  and  day,  for  the  support  of  their  families  ! 

Although  the  food  question  is  one  of  grave  importance,  even  in  this 
country,  there  can'be  with  us  no  possible  scarcity  of  food.  Nearly  one 
fifth  part  of  the  products  of  agriculture  (including  cotton)  is  exported 


The  Food  Question  in  America  and  Europe. 


45 


to  feed  and  clothe  the  people  of  other  lands.  In  return  for  these  ex¬ 
ports — the  grain  which  we  could  not  consume,  and  the  cotton  which 
we  could  not  spin,  and  the  oil  which  we  could  not  burn,  because  there 
is  enough  and  to  spare  besides — we  receive  our  great  volume  of  imports 
in  exchange  for  what  we  export,  which  has  been  divided  into  the  follow¬ 
ing  proportions  by  the  measure  of  value  in  money,  according  to  the 
average  of  recent  years  : 

Articles  of  food  and  live  animals . . .  .$200,000,000 

Articles  in  a  crude  condition,  which  are  necessary  in  the 

processes  of  domestic  industry .  160,000,000 

Articles  fully  or  in  part  manufactured,  which  are  used  in  the 

domestic  arts  or  manufactures .  75,000,000 

Total . $435,  ooo,  000 

Manufactured  goods  ready  for  final  consumption . $130,000,000 

Articles  of  voluntary  use  which  may  be  classed  as  luxuries.  .  65,000,000 

195,000,000 

T  otal . $630, 000, 000 

The  proportion  of  the  product  of  agriculture  exported  varies  year 
by  year.  If  the  declared  value  of  exports  be  compared  with  the  valua¬ 
tion  of  all  crops  at  the  farms,  it  ranges  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  per 
cent.  A  fairer  comparison  is  to  extend  the  farm  values  to  the  final 
values  at  wholesale  in  the  principal  markets.  The  writer  applied  this 
method  to  the  census  figures  of  1880  with  the  aid  of  other  experts.  The 
conclusion  was  that  the  wholesale  value  of  all  crops  at  the  centres  of 
wholesale  distribution  in  thfijeensus  year  was  a  little  less  than  $4,000,- 
000,000.  Of  this  quantity  somewhat  over  $700,000,000  worth  was  ex- 
P 0 rted  or  over  seventeen  per  cent.  ;  the  proportion  is  now  less. 

In  the  production  and  movement  of  the  crops  to  the  centres  of  dis- 

. .  "  "  T 

tribution  8,000,000  men  were  occupied,  of  whom  seventeen  per  cent,  or 
more,  say  1,360,000,  depended  on  a  foreign  market.  In  return  we  re¬ 
ceived  imports  classified  as  above,  of  which  more  than  two  thirds  con¬ 
sisted  of  articles  of  necessity  or  common  comfort.  It  is  in  this  wTay 
that  the  interdependence  of  nations  asserts  itself  in  spite  of  the 
obstructions  of  time,  distance,  and  taxes,  and  that  in  all  true  commerce 
men  and  nations  serve  each  other,  both  parties  making  a  gain  in  every 
exchange  of  product  for  product. 

The  enormous  export  demand,  especially  of  European  countries, 
upon  us  for  food,  which  is  brought  into  notice  by  the  fact  of  our  large 
exports,  brings  into  conspicuous  observation  the  urgency  of  the  de¬ 
mands  of  the  victualing  department,  especially  upon  the  continent  of 
Europe  ;  while  the  simple  fact  that  several  European  states  have 
obstructed  the  import  of  provisions  from  this  country  by  heavy  duties, 
or  have  absolutely  prohibited  the  import  of  our  pork  upon  the  false 


46  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 

pretense  that  it  is  especially  unwholesome,  bears  witness  also  that 
although  the  wages  of  labor  in  these  countries  are  very  low,  yet  the 
cost  of  the  production  of  food,  as  measured  by  labor  or  in  money,  is 
very  high.  Where  the  product  of  agriculture  is  relatively  small  in  pro¬ 
portion  to  the  population  and  to  the  demand  or  purchasing  power,  it 
follows  of  necessity  that  the  wages  of  labor  must  be  very  low,  and  the 
subsistence  of  the  people  inadequate.  Only  one  or  two  examples  can 
be  given  within  the  limits  of  this  article. 

I  am  permitted  to  give  the  following  data,  which  have  been  furnished 
me  by  one  of  the  most  intelligent  official  observers  in  Germany,  Consul 
J.  S.  Potter  of  Crefeld,  Germany,  in  a  report  on  the  condition  of  German 
agriculture.1  From  this  report  I  find  that  the  income  of  a  Prussian 
farm  laborer,  employed  as  first  hand  upon  a  large  farm,  whose  family 
consisted  of  himself,  his  wife,  and  five  children,  all  under  thirteen  years 
old,  averaged  as  follows  in  a  recent  year  : 


Wages  of  husband .  $142.80 

Wages  of  wife  in  harvest  time .  11.90 

Value  of  pork  and  potatoes  raised  and  consumed .  47.60 

Value  of  goat’s  milk  and  vegetables  sold .  26.18 

Total  income .  $228.48 


EXPENSES. 

Wheat-bread . $  7.14 

Rye  black  bread . . .  24. 75 

Pork  and  potatoes  (valued  as  before). .  47.60 

Cheese .  4.95 

Syrup . 5.00 

Coffee . -  3.71 

Salt,  pepper,  and  sundries .  1.24 


Total  food  for  seven  persons  for  one  year .  $94.39 


This  makes  a.  cost  of  three  cents  and  seven  tenths  per  day  per  per¬ 
son.  If  the  five  children  under  thirteen  be  computed  as  two  and  one 
half  adults,  making  the  family  equal  to  four  and  one  half  adults,  the 
average  per  day  is  only  five  and  three  quarter  cents. 

In  my  investigations  of  the  food  question  I  have  found  no  statement 
of  the  food  supply  of  a  thrifty  workingman  and  his  family  so  meagre  as 
this,  or  at  so  low  a  cost  per  capita. 

1  These  reports  and  others  of  equal  value  have  since  been  published  among  the 
consular  reports  issued  by  the  State  Department.  Attention  may  well  be  called  to 
these  reports.  At  the  request  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  the  representatives  of  the  great 
industries  of  the  country  prepared  very  careful  forms  of  interrogatory  in  respect  to  the 
several  arts  on  which  reports  were  desired,  including  agriculture.  Responses  to  these 
questions  thus  prepared  by  experts  are  now  being  published,  so  that  the  reports  of  such 
consuls  as  have  the  capacity  to  report  facts  are  becoming  of  great  value  to  the  student 
of  social  science. 


The  Food  Question  in  America  and  Europe.  47 

It  may  be  interesting  to  give  the  other  items  of  expenditure  of  this 
thrifty  German  peasant  : 


Clothing .  $39-97 

Rent  of  house  and  three  quarters  of  an  acre  of  land .  35-75 

Fuel  and  lights .  14.24 

Oil,  soap,  etc .  3.71 

Meal  for  goat  and  pig . ". .  16.66 

Beer  and  tobacco .  7.14 

Sundries .  14.28 


Making  a  total  expenditure  for  a  family  of  seven  persons . $226.14 


In  this  same  neighborhood,  which  is  one  of  the  most  fertile  parts  of 
Prussia,  the  wages  of  other  farm  laborers  who  are  supplied  with  food 
by  their  employers  are  as  follows  : 

First  laborer  per  year,  $71.50  with  board. 

Second  “  “  “  39.25  “  “ 

Third  “  “  “  26.18  “ 

Average  wages  per  year,  $44.25,  or  less  than  $4  per  month  with 
board. 

But  when  we  turn  to  the  production  of  a  first-class  Prussian  farm 
and  its  cost,  we  find  the  product  of  a  fraction  less  than  ninety-one  acres 
of  land,  which  had  been  cultivated  in  a  most  skilful  and  intelligent 
manner,  valued  in  all  at  $3,942.47.  Part  of  this  product  consisted  of 
wheat,  the  cost  of  which  is  given  at  eighty-four  cents  per  bushel  of 
sixty  pounds.  Another  portion  consisted  of  rye,  the  cost  of  which  is 
computed  at  sixty-eight  cents  per  bushel  of  fifty-eight  pounds. 

It  will  be  observed  that  although  the  wages  of  the  farm  laborer  in 
this  section  average  less  than  four  dollars  a  month,  with  board  added, 
the  money  cost  of  a  bushel  of  wheat  is  set  at  eighty-four  cents.  In  our 
great  wheat-producing  States  and  territories  of  the  Far  West  wages  are 
four-  to  five-fold,  with  board,  and  yet  the  cost  of  a  bushel  of  wheat  in 
some  places  is  not  over  one  half,  or  forty-two  cents  a  bushel.  It  may 
be  alleged  that  this  is  because  we  are  converting  the  original  fertility  of 
a  virgin  soil  into  wheat,  and  thereby  exhausting  the  land  ;  but  the  rule 
holds  true  in  only  a  little  different  proportion  in  the  wheat-producing 
counties  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  where  fertilizers  are  as  much 
required  as  in  Germany.  Wages  in  these  sections  are  as  high  as  those 
in  the  Far  West,  while  the  cost  of  wheat  in  money  is  not  over  two  thirds 
of  that  given  as  the  cost  in  Germany  at  the  farm. 

It  is  interesting  to  consider  the  dietary  of  this  prosperous  Prussian 
farmer.  The  food  is  nearly  one  half  black  bread  made  of  rye.  The 
proportion  of  meat  is  very  small,  as  compared  with  the  rations  of  this 
country.  His  family  consisted  of  nine  persons,  three  being  children  of 


48 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


over  fourteen  years  of  age.  Their  total  living  expenses  for  the  year 


were  $736.28,  divided  as  follows  : 

Food . $300.41 

Clothing . 119.00 

Fuel  and  light .  23.89 

Beer,  wine,  and  spirits .  71.40 

Cigars,  tobacco,  and  entertainments .  47.60 

Sundries .  29.75 

School  expenses,  and  maintenance  of  son  in  army .  144-23 


Total .  $736.28 


The  cost  of  food  per  person  each  day  is  nine  and  a  quarter  cents.1 

It  is  singular  to  compare  the  school  expenses,  the  support  of  the 
son  in  the  army,  and  the  beer,  wine,  and  spirits  with  the  food  bill.  The 
food  supply  of  this  farmer,  whose  book  accounts  appear  to  have  heen 
kept  with  the  accuracy  of  a  merchant,  and  whose  method  of  cultivation, 
as  described,  might  serve  as  a  lesson  anywhere  in  scientific  agriculture, 
is  less  in  quantity  and  variety,  and  less  in  cost  by  at  least  one  third,  as 
compared  with  the  rations  which  are  served  in  the  prisons  of  Massa¬ 
chusetts. 

The  significant  item  in  this  expense  account  is  the  maintenance  of 
the  son  in  the  army. 

There  are,  of  course,  many  other  causes,  aside  from  the  military 
system  of  Europe,  for  the  differences  which  are  to  be  found  in  the 
subsistence  of  the  people,  which  cannot  be  treated  in  the  limits  of  this 
article.  For  instance,  the  relative  area  and  population  of  European 
states,  aside  from  Russia  and  Turkey,  enter  into  the  consideration. 
The  area  is  about  one  half  that  of  the  United  States,  while  the  popula¬ 
tion  is  little  more  than  eight-fold,  the  ratio  to  the  square  mile  being  a 
little  less  than  twenty  in  this  country  and  one  hundred  and  sixty  in 
Europe. 

This  area  is  divided  into  fifteen  empires,  kingdoms,  or  states, 
omitting  the  petty  states  of  eastern  Europe,  which  are  separated  from 
each  other  by  differences  of  race,  creed,  and  language.  Their  com¬ 
merce  is  obstructed  among  themselves  by  as  many  different  systems  of 
duties  upon  imports  as  there  are  states.  The  natural  outlet  for  the 
crowded  population  of  central  Europe  might  be  in  southern  Russia  and 
v  in  the  fertile  sections  of  Asiatic  Turkey,  were  the  relations  of  these  several 
states  to  the  eastern  country  the  same  as  those  of  the  Eastern  States  of 
this  country  to  those  of  the  West.  There  is  land  enough,  and  to  spare  ; 
but  the  armies  of  Europe  are  sustained  in  order  to  prevent  this  very 

1  For  further  comparisons  of  the  food  supply  of  working  people  in  different 
countries,  reference  may  be  made  to  the  first  report  of  the  National  Bureau  of  the 
.  Statistics  of  Labor,  by  Hon,  Carroll  D.  Wright. 


The  Food  Question  in  A  merica  and  Europe .  49 

expansion  of  the  people  ;  and  the  misgovernment  of  the  Turk,  which 
renders  Asia  Minor  almost  a  howling  wilderness,  is  protected  by  the 
mutual  jealousies  of  these  very  states,  which  are  thus  being  destroyed 
by  their  own  standing  armies. 

As  war  becomes  more  scientific,  it  becomes  more  costly.  Victory 
rests  not  only  on  powder  and  iron,  but  yet  more  on  bread  and  beef.  It 
may  have  been  the  German  sausage  by  which  France  was  beaten,  quite 
as  much  as  the  German  rifle. 

The  food  question  in  Europe  may  be  one  of  possible  revolution 
and  repudiation  of  national  debts,  and  of  the  disruption  of  nations  as 
they  now  exist  ;  and  to  this  branch  of  the  victualing  department  atten¬ 
tion  may  well  be  called,  because  its  conditions  are  so  greatly  in  contrast 
to  those  of  the  United  States  ;  but  this  phase,  of  the  question  will  be 
treated  separately  in  a  subsequent  article.  May  we  not  find  in  these 
costly  armies,  excessive  debts,  and  excessive  taxes  not  only  the  cause  of 
pauper  wages,  but  also  the  cause  of  the  ineffectual  and  costly  quality 
of  so-called  “  pauper  labor  ”  ?  May  there  not  also  be  found  in  these 
figures  incentives  to  socialism,  to  communism,  and  to  anarchy?  What 
hope  for  men  and  women,  the  whole  of  whose  product  would  barely 
suffice  for  subsistence,  when  ten,  twenty,  and  perhaps  even  thirty  per 
cent,  is  diverted  from  their  own  use,  and  even  food  is  denied  them 
sufficient  to  maintain  health  and  strength,  in  order  that  these  great 
v  armies  may  be  sustained  ? 

The  victualing  department  is  therefore  presented  in  these  three 
phases  : 

First.  In  our  own  country  the  only  question  is  how  to  save  the 
waste  of  our  abundance,  and  how  to  teach  not  only  the  working  people, 
but  even  the  prosperous,  the  right  methods  of  obtaining  a  good  and 
wholesome  subsistence  at  less  cost  in  money  than  they  now  spend  for  a 
poor  and  dyspeptic  one. 

Second.  In  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  the  victualing  department 
underlies  a  system  of  land  tenure  which  is  now  on  its  trial,  and  which 
has  led  to  such  artificial  conditions  that  great  areas  of  good  land  have 
been  thrown  entirely  out  of  cultivation,  while  half  the  people  are  being 
fed  from  fields  from  five  thousand  to  fifteen  thousand  miles  distant. 

Third.  Upon  the  continent  of  Europe  the  victualing  department 
stands  face  to  face  with  a  forced  method  of  distributing  and  wasting  a 
food-product  which,  as  a  whole,  is  insufficient  to  maintain  the  whole 
population  in  vigor  and  health  even  if  it  were  evenly  distributed,  as 
food  must  be  equally  distributed  by  weight  if  not  by  quality,  in  order 
that  men  and  women  may  be  equally  well  nourished. 

When  a  famished  democracy  becomes  conscious  of  its  power,  what 

will  be  the  end  of  privileges  which  are  not  founded  on  rights,  and  of 

national  debts  which  have  been  incurred  by  dynasties  without  the 
4 


50 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


consent  of  the  people  who  are  now  oppressed  by  them  ?  How  will 
standing  armies  be  disbanded,  which  now  seem  to  be  as  incapable 
of  being  sustained  as  they  are  impossible  of  being  disarmed  ? 

Such  are  some  of  the  appalling  questions  to  which  we  are  led  when 
we  attempt  to  analyze  the  way  in  which  men,  women,  and  children  now 
obtain  the  modicum  of  meat  and  bread  which  they  must  have  every 
day  in  order  to  exist,  and  that  daily  ration  of  dairy  products,  of  fruit, 
of  sugar,  and  of  spice,  which  is  needed  for  common  comfort. 

There  is  but  one  element  of  life  which  all  have  in  common,  and  that 
is  Time.  Who  can  teach  us  how  to  use  our  time  so  as  to  obtain  the 
substantially  even  weight  of  food  which  is  necessary  to  the  adequate 
nutrition  and  to  the  common  welfare  of  rich  and  poor  alike  ? 


THE  RELATIVE  STRENGTH  AND  WEAKNESS 

OF  NATIONS 

TWO  STUDIES  IN  THE  APPLICATION  OF  STATISTICS  TO 

SOCIAL  SCIENCE 


THE  RELATIVE  STRENGTH  AND  WEAKNESS  OF 

NATIONS.1 


TWO  STUDIES  IN  THE  APPLICATION  OF  STATISTICS  TO  SOCIAL 

SCIENCE. 

I.  STRENGTH. 

FROM  one  of  the  little-known  but  very  remarkable  financial  essays 
of  Pelatiah  Webster,  a  patriot  merchant  of  the  era  of  the  Revo¬ 
lution,  who  most  urgently  resisted  the  issue  of  the  Continental 
currency,  predicting  all  the  malignant  effects  which  ensued  therefrom, 
we  quote  these  words  : 

“  I  conceive  very  clearly,  that  the  riches  of  a  nation  do  not  consist  in  the  abun¬ 
dance  of  money,  but  in  number  of  people,  in  supplies  and  resources,  in  the  necessaries 
and  conveniences  of  life,  in  good  laws,  good  public  officers,  in  virtuous  citizens,  in 
strength  and  concord,  in  wisdom,  in  justice,  in  wise  counsels  and  manly  force.” 


.As  the  century  is  now  just  ended  since  the  first  steps  were  taken  to 
frame  the  Constitution  under  which  we  live,  it  may  be  fitting  to  account 
to  ourselves  for  the  work  which  has  been  done  during  this  hundred 
years  in  the  land  wherein  we  dwell. 

We  may,  perhaps,  test  the  wisdom*  of  our  laws  and  the  equity  of 
our  institutions  by  measuring  the  development  of  our  resources,  the 
abundance  of  our  supplies,  and  the  strength  of  our  nation.  Our  na¬ 
tional  domain  is  a  trust  with  which  we  have  been  endowed.  How 
have  we  discharged  the  trust  ? 

The  main  source  of  all  material  life  is  land.  The  sea  supplies  food 
in  small  measure,  but  upon  the  land  mankind  almost  wholly  depends. 
May  not  that  system  of  land-tenure  and  that  form  of  government, 
therefore,  be  considered  best  which  has  resulted  in  the  largest  produc¬ 
tion  and  in  the  most  equitable  distribution  of  the  products  of  the 
soil  ?  May  we  not  claim  this  position  among  the  nations  ? 

Is  not  the  only  equitable  distribution  of  the  materials  required  for 
food  a  substantially  even  one  by  weight  ?  There  may  be  a  great  differ- 

1  Reprinted  with  additions  from  The  Century  Magazine  for  January,  1887. 

53 


54 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


ence  in  the  quality,  but  t&e  requirement  for  nutrition  is  the  same  among 
rich  and  poor  alike  ;  each  adult  person  should  have  substantially  the 
same  quantity  of  the  chemical  ingredients  of  food  or  “  nutrients  ” 
by  the  conversion  of  which  the  body  is  sustained,  and  which  are  de¬ 
rived  from  animal  and  vegetable  food. 


OUR  NATIONAL  DOMAIN. 


WHAT  WE  HAVE  DONE  WITH  IT,  AND  WHAT  WE  MIGHT  DO  WITH  IT. 


Section  i.  Arable  Land — 1,500,000  Square  Miles. 


IN  ACTUAL  USE. 


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II. 


III. 


IV.  V.  VI. 


302,500  square  miles  now  produce  all  our  grain,  hay,  cotton,  sugar,  rice,  and  garden  vegetables. 


Section  2.  Pasture-Land. 


WHAT  MIGHT  SUFFICE. 


t/3 

<L> 

a 

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VII. 


VIII. 


IX. 


(A  square  mile  =  640  acres.) 


Section  3. 


Mountain  and  Timber. 


Compiled  from  the  records  of  the  Agricultural  Department  and  other  sources,  in  November,  1886. 


There  can  neither  be  matured  strength  in  the  man  nor  in  the  na¬ 
tion  without  an  adequate  supply  of  food  ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  very 
existence  of  the  almshouse  and  the  pauper  asylum  in  civilized  coun¬ 
tries  bears  witness  to  the  admitted  nec.essityjpf  a  substantially  equal 
distribution  Qfjood^bv  quantity  or  by  weight. 


The  Relative  Strength  and  Weakness  of  Nations.  5  5 


OUR  NATIONAL  DOMAIN.1 


GRAPHICAL  PRESENTATION  OF  THE  COMPARATIVE  AREAS  OF  THE  STATES  AND  TERRITORIES  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES  AND  THE  COUNTRIES  OF  EUROPE,  OMITTING  RUSSIA  AND  ALASKA. 

[Corrected  from  the  revised  computations  of  the  United  States  Census  of  1880,  and  the  Statesman’s  Year  Book  of  1887J 


Name. 


Sq.  Miles. 


Relative  area  :  United  States  solid,  Europe  open. 


1.  Texas . 262,290 

2.  Austrian  Empire  .  .  .  240,942 

3.  German  Empire  .  .  .  211,149 

4.  France . 204.  x77 

5.  Spain  .• . 197 .767 

6.  Sweden . 170,973 

7.  California . I55-980 

8.  Dakota  Territory  .  .  147,700 

9.  Montana  Territory  .  .  i45>310 

10.  Norway . 123,203 

ix.  New  Mexico  Territory,  122,460 

12.  Great  Britain  &  Ireland,  120,832 

13.  Italy . 114,410 

14.  Aj-izona . 112,920 

15.  Nevada . 109,740 

16.  Colorado . 103,645 

17.  Wyoming- Territory  .  .  97,575 

Oregon . 94,56° 

Idaho  Territory  .  .  .  84,290 

Utah  Territory  .  .  .  82,190 

Kansas . 81,700 

Minnesota . 79,205 

Nebraska . 76,185 

Indian  Territory  .  .  .  69,830 

Missouri . 68,735 

26.  Washington  Territory  .  66,880 

27.  Turkey  in  Europe  .  .  63.850 

28.  Georgia . 58,980 

29.  England  and  Wales  .  58,186 

Michigan .  57,43° 

Illinois . 56,000 

Iowa .  55.475 

Wisconsin .  54,45° 

Florida . 54>25° 

35.  Arkansas . 53>°45 

36.  Alabama  5I,54° 

37.  North  Carolina  .  .  .  48,58° 

38.  Roumania . 48>3°7 

39.  New  York . 47,620 

Mississippi . 46,34° 

Louisiana . 45>42° 

Pennsylvania  ....  44,985 

Tennessee . 4I>75° 

Ohio . 40,760 

Virginia . 40,125 

46.  Kentucky . 40,000 

47.  Portugal . 36,028 

Indiana . 35,910 

Ireland .  32.531 

South  Carolina  .  .  .  30,170 

Maine . 29,875 

.  .  .  .  29,820 


18. 

19. 

20. 

21. 

22. 

23. 

24. 
25- 


3°- 

31- 

32- 

33- 

34- 


40. 

41. 

42. 

43- 

44. 

45- 


48. 

49- 
90- 
Si- 

52.  Scotland  .  .  . 

53.  Greece  .  .  . 

54.  West  Virginia. 

55.  Bulgaria.  .  . 

56.  Bosnia  &  Herzegovina, 


25,014 

24,645 

24,369 

23-57° 


57.  Servia . 18,800 

38.  Switzerland  ....  15,892 

59.  Denmark  .  .  .  .  .  14,124 

60.  Eastern  Roumelia  .  .  13,500 

61.  Netherlands  ....  12,648 

62.  Belgium . 11,373 

63.  Maryland . 9,860 

€4.  Vermont  .  ._  .  .  .  .  9,135 

65.  New  Hampshire  .  .  .  9,005 

66.  Massachusetts  ....  8,040 

New  Jersey . 7,455 

Connecticut . 4,845 


■67. 

68. 

69. 

70. 
7i- 
72. 

73- 

74- 


Montenegro  , 
Delaware  .  .  .  . 

Rhode  Island  .  ,  . 

Andorra . 

District  of  Columbia 
Monaco . 


Relative  Population  of  Countries  at  the  Dates 
of  the  Last  Census  taken  in  Europe 

AND  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.* 

(At  the  date  of  the  publication  of  this  volume,  in  1889,  the  population 
of  the  United  States  may  be  computed  at  somewhat  over  63,000,000.) 

Russia  85,296,479 1 87,472,900 

Finland  2,176,421  j  ,y 

United  States, 

July  4, 1887  , 


60,000,000 


German  Empire  .  46,852,450 
Austrian  Empire  .  37,882,712 


France  .  .  .  . 

Great  Britain  and 
Ireland  .  .  . 


37,672,048 

36,325,115 


Italy . 29,361,032 

Spain . 16,961,742 

Turkey  in  Europe  .  4,668,0003 

Bulgaria &E. Roumelia, 2, 982, 949  >8,987,040 
Bosnia  &  Herzegovina  1,336,091 ) 

Belgium  ....  5>85>3278 


Roumania 


Sweden 


3.55° 

1,960 

i,c8s 

175 

60 

6 


Netherlands 


Portugal 


Switzerland 


Greece 


Servia 


The  visionary  possibilities  of  the  future  product  of 
the  United  States  may  be  imagined  by  reference  to  the  Denmark 
following  statement : 

The  land  in  actual  use  for  growing  maize  or  Indian 
corn,  wheat,  hay,  oats,  and  cotton  in  the  whole  country 
now  consists  of  282.500  square  miles,  or  a  little  more  than 
the  area  of  the  single  State  of  Texas. 

The  entire  wheat  crop  of  the  United  States  could  be 
grown  on  wheat  land  of  the  best  quality  selected  from  that 
part  of  the  area  of  the  State  of  Texas  by  which  that  single  Norway 
State  exceeds  the  present  area  of  the  German  Empire. 

The  cotton  factories  of  the  world  now  require  about 
12,000,000  bales  of  cotton  of  American  weight.  Good 
land  in  Texas  produces  one  bale  to  an  acre.  The  world  s 
supply  of  cotton  could  therefore  be  grown  on  less  than 
19,000  square  miles,  or  upon  an  area  equal  to  only  7  per 
cent,  of  the  area  of  Texas. 


5,376,000 


4,682,763 


4.336,012 


4,306,554 


2,846,102 


i,98°>253 

1,979,561 


I.952.35I 


Montenegro 


*  Authority : 


1,931, 000 r 
25o,oool, 


Almanach  de  Gotha,  except  where  later  figures  are  given  In 
other  compilations. 


Reprinted  from  the  Century  Magazine  for  January ,  1887. 


56 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


Raw  land,  if  such  an  expression  may  be  used,  itself  possesses  no 
more  value  than  free  air  or  running  water.  A  price  may  be  paid,  or  a 
contest  may  be  waged  for  a  time,  in  order  to  secure  the  opportunity  to 
reap  and  dispose  of  the  harvests  which  are  due  to  original  fertility  ; 
but,  with  very  rare  exception,  the  virgin  properties  of  the  soil  are  soon 
exhausted,  and  what  is  known  as  “  economic  rent  ”  almost  wholly  dis¬ 
appears  ;  then  land  ceases  to  be  a  mine  and  becomes  a  laboratory, 
only  yielding  product,  and  therefore  only  yielding  wages  and  profits, 
according  to  the  measure  of  the  labor  put  upon  it,  of  the  capital  put 
into  it,  and  the  intelligence  with  which  both  capital  and  labor  are  di¬ 
rected. 

At  last  land  may  cease  to  yield  either  wages  or  profits  in  response 
to  labor  and  capital  unless  both  are  combined  under  the  direction  of 
skill  and  experience. 

There  is  no  absolute  private  ownership  of  land  in  this  or  in  any 
other  civilized  country,  yet  limited  possession  is  necessary  to  its  use 
and  to  its  production.  When  subject  to  such  limited  possession  it  be¬ 
comes  useful  and  valuable. 

All  systems  of  land-tenure  which  tend  to  limit  or  retard  production, 
so  that  even  a  slowly  increasing  population  gains  upon  the  means  of 
subsistence,  may  be  rightly  subject  to  change.  Or  if,  after  the  prod¬ 
uct  of  the  land  has  been  made  in  sufficient  measure  for  the  welfare  of 
the  people  who  dwell  upon  it,  it  is  then  so  wrongly  distributed  that  a 
considerable  part  is  wasted  in  the  support  of  standing  armies  or  dynas¬ 
tic  privileges,  while  great  numbers  of  people  suffer  from  absolute  want, 
it  will  only  be  a  question  of  time  when  such  forms,  systems,  or  institu¬ 
tions  must  give  place  to  others,  either  by  peaceful  evolution  or  by 
violent  revolution. 

Xhe  purpose  of  these  studies  is  to  treat  the  present  relative,  condi- 
tjpns  of  the  so-called  civilized  nations  of  Europe,  and  to  compare  them 
with  the  conditions  of  the  United  States,  in  respect  to  the  production 
and  distribution  of  the  means  of  subsistence  which  are  wholly  derived 
from  land. 

It  is  proposed  to  apply  the  test  of  such  a  balancing  of  accounts  as 
a  business  man  is  accustomed  to  call  for  when  any  corporate  enterprise 
is  subjected  to  his  scrutiny.  The  work  of  States  may  be  considered 
in  the  nature  of  a  corporate  enterprise  subject  to  the  control  of  the 
people  who  are  members  of  the  corporation,  as  they  may  choose  to 
direct. 

At  the  same  time,  all  such  direction  by  statutes,  and  all  customs 
which  precede  or  attain  the  force  of  law,  must  be  brought  into  harmo¬ 
ny  with  a  true  science  of  law  if  they  are  to  be  permanent,  else  they  will 
only  create  confusion  and  become  inoperative.  It  may  be  said  that  no 
true  science  of  law  has  yet  been  established  among  men  :  then  the 


The  Relative  Strength  and  Weakness  of  Nations.  5  7 


POPULATION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

Either  as  Enumerated  in  the  Census  or  as  Computed 
by  Mr.  E.  B.  Elliott,  Actuary  of  the 
Treasury  Department. 


000,000. 


When  this  article  is 
published,  the  population 
of  the  United  States  will 
be  substantially  60,000,- 
000. 

If  we  omit  Russia 
wholly  from  the  compu¬ 
tation,  the  area  of  the  re¬ 
mainder  of  Europe  covers 
1,500,000  square  miles,  of 
which  the  population  is 
about  240,000,000 


Enumerated. 

Computed. 


more  reason  to  test  the  present  condition  of  nations  which  claim  to 
be  governed  by  law,  in  order  to  determine  by  a  comparison  of  their 
conditions  which  one  has  attained  the  best  results,  so  that  a  basis  may 
be  laid  for  a  true  inductive  science  of  law  governing  the  social  order, 
fully  consistent  with  the  higher  law  which  governs  the  universe. 

As  regards  land,  the 

continent  of  Europe  and  !- 

the  territory  of  the  United 
States  are  about  even. 

The  area  of  Europe,  in¬ 
cluding  all  of  Russia,  is 
3,761,657  square  miles. 

The  area  of  the  United 
States,  including  Alaska, 
is  3,501,404. 

If  we  omit  in  Europe 
the  uninhabitable  portions 
of  Norway,  Sweden,  and 
Russia,  and  if  we  omit 
Alaska  from  the  territory 
of  this  country,  we  reach 
a  substantially  even  pro¬ 
portion  of  habitable  land, 
to  wit,  about  3,000,000 
square  miles  in  each 
country. 

The  population  of  Eu¬ 
rope  approximates  334,- 


June  1. 

1860..  31. 443. 321 

1 86 1..  32, 060, 000 
1862.-32,704,000 
i863--33065-°oo 

I 

1864..  34. 046. 000 

1865..  34. 748. 000 

1866. . 35.469.000 

1867. . 36. 211.000 

1868. . 36. 973. 000 
1869.-37,756,000 

1870..  38. 558. 371 

1871. . 39.555.000 

1872. . 40. 596. 000 

1873. . 41.677.000 

1874. . 42. 796. 000 

1875. . 43.951. 000 

1876. . 45. 137. 000 

1877..  46. 353. 000' 

1878. . 47.598.000 
1879.-48,866,000 

1880..  50. 155. 783 

1881. . 51. 495. 000 
1882.  .52,802,000 

1883. . 54.165.000 

1884..  55, 556, 000 

1885. . 56. 975. 000 
1886.-58,420,000 

1887..  59. 893. 000 

1888..  61. 394. 000 

1889. . 62. 921. 000 

1890..  64, 476, 000 


Enumerated. 

Computed. 


Enumerated. 
•  Computed. 


5« 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


ii. 


hi. 


MILES  OF  RAILWAY  IN  OPERATION  IN 
THE  UNITED  STATES 

On  the  first  of  January  in  each  year,  begin¬ 
ning  1865.  Compiled  from  Poor’s 
Railway  Manual. 


CHARGE  PER  TON  PER  MILE 

For  moving  Merchandise  over  the  New  York 
Central  and  Hudson  River  Railroad,  at 
the  average,  in  each  of  the  sev¬ 
eral  years  designated. 


1865..  33,908 

1866..  35,085 

1867..  36,801 

1868..  39,250 

1869..  42,229 

1870..  46,844 

1871..  52,914 

1872..  60,293 

1873..  66,171 

1874..  70,278 

1875..  72,383 

1876..  74,096 

1877..  76,808 

1878..  79,089 

1879..  81,776 

1880..  86,497 

1881..  93,545 
1882.-103,334 

1883. . 114. 925 
1884  .121,543 

1885..  125.379 
1886.-128,967 


The  average  number  of 
men  employed  per  mile  of 
railway  in  the  census  year 
was  a  little  under  five.  With 
the  increase  of  traffic,  it  is 
doubtless  a  little  over  five 
now.  The  executive  force 
of  all  the  railways  therefore 
jiumbers  about  650,000  men. 
—  The  construction  of 

_ railways  in  1886  will 

probably  exceed  6000 

-  miles,  at  about  $25,- 

_ _  000  per  mile,  or  at 

sixty  men  per  mile, 

-  earning  each  an 

_ _  average  of  a  lit¬ 
tle  over  $400 — 

- -  therefore  repre- 

_ _  senting  a  con¬ 
struction  force  of 
- -  about  350,000. 


1855. .3.270  gold. 


1865. . 3.451  paper 

1866..  3. 092  44 

1867. . 2. 754  44 

1868. . 2.742  11 

1869. . 2.387  “ 

1870..  1.853  “ 

1871. . 1.649  U 

1872. . 1.592  “ 

1873. . 1.573  “ 

1874. . 1.462  “ 

1875..  1. 275  “ 

1876. . 1.051  “ 

1877..  1. 014  “ 

1878..  .930  “ 


One  million  men  are  therefore  occupied  at  this  time 
either  in  the  construction  or  operation  of  the  rail¬ 
ways  of  the  United  States. 


1879..  .796  gold. 

1880..  .879  44 


Capital  stock 
Funded  debt 
Other  debt 


1885. 


$3,817,697,832 

3,765,727,o66 

259,108,281 


1881..  .783  “ 

1882..  .738  11 

1883..  .910  “ 


TOTAL. 


Passenger  receipts  . 

Freight  receipts 

Total,  including  miscellaneous 


$200,883,9x1 
5 19,1 690,992 
765,310,419 


1884..  .830  “ 

1885..  .680  14 


The  railway  service  of 
the  United  States  for  the 
last  four  years,  1882  to 
1885  inclusive,  on  the  au¬ 
thority  of  Poor’s  Railway 
Manual,  has  consisted  in 
moving  1,597,058,562  tons 
of  food,  fibers,  fabrics,  tim¬ 
ber,  metal,  and  fuel  an  av¬ 
erage  distance  of  111  miles 
each  ton,  at  a  charge  of 
$2,052,849,085. 

The  average  service  for 
each  man, woman, and  child 
of  the  population  has  been 
in  moving  75  tons  of  food, 
fuel,  and  other  necessaries 
of  life  in  miles  at  a  charge 
of  $9.35  to  each  person  per 
year,  or  a  fraction  over  2$ 
cents  a  day. 


The  railway  mileage  Jan.  x,  1881,  was  93,545.  In  a 
treatise  upon  what  would  be  an  adequate  service, 
written  in  that  year,  the  writer  said  that  117,500 
miles  should  be  added  in  the  next  fifteen  years  ;  but 
as  we  should  have  at  least  one  commercial  crisis  and 
railway  panic  during  that  period,  it  might  be  safer  to 
assign  twenty  years  to  the  work.  Since  Jan.  1,  1881, 
we  have  had  both  a  crisis  and  a  panic,  but  we  have 
added  35,422  miles,  leaving  only  82,025  for  the  next 
eleven  to  fifteen  years. 

The  increase  in  the  railway  mileage  of  the  United 
States  subsequent  to  the  publication  of  this  article  in 
The  Century ,  gives  the  following  results,  actual  and 
estimated  ; 


miles  ready  for  operation. 


Jan.  1,  1887 
“  1888 

44  1889 

44  1890 


(Estimated) 


137,987 

i49, 9r3 
156,613 
164,000 


The  New  York  Central  and  Hudson  River  Railroad 
may  be  taken  as  a  good  example  of  an  important  line  of 
railway  under  most  efficient  management,  and  as  a  stand¬ 
ard  of  what  other  lines  may  accomplish  when  the  magni¬ 
tude  of  their  traffic  will  permit  them  to  make  as  great  a 
reduction  in  rates.  The  average  charge  per  ton  per  mile 
on  this  line  from  1865  to  1868,  four  years,  was  3.0097  cents 
per  ton  per  mile.  From  1882  to  1885,  four  years,  the 
charge  was  0.7895.  Difference,  2.2202  cents.  If  we  may 
assume  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  have  been 
saved  two  and  one  fifth  cents  per  ton  per  mile  on  the 
whole  railway  traffic  of  the  last  four  years,  either  by  the 
construction  of  railways  where  none  before  existed  or  by 
such  a  reduction  in  the  charge  for  their  service,  the  amount 
or  money’s  worth  saved  in  four  years  has  been  $3,898,- 
373,159,  which  sum  would  probably  equal  the  cash  cost  of 
all  the  railways  built  in  the  United  States  since  1865,  to 
which  sum  might  probably  be  added  the  entire  payment 
upon  the  national  debt  since  1865. 

The  following  table  brings  into  yet  more  conspicuous 
notice  the  beneficent  effect  of  the  railway  system  in  the 
distribution  of  food  : 


The  Relative  Strength  and  Weakness  of  Nations , 


59 


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PENNSYLVANIA;  PITTSBURGH,  FORT  WAYNE  AND  CHICAGO;  NEW  YORK  CENTRAL  AND  HUDSON  RIVER;  LAKE  SHORE  AND  MICHIGAN 
SOUTHERN;  MICHIGAN  CENTRAL;  BOSTON  AND  ALBANY;  AND  NEW  YORK,  LAKE  ERIE,  AND  WESTERN  RAILROADS. 


6o 


•  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


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84>754i598  i3>543*35i»45 


The  Relative  Strength  and  Weakness  of  Nations .  6 1 


The  population  of  the  United  States  is  now  a  fraction  under  twenty 
to  the  square  mile  ;  while  that  of  Europe,  aside  from  Russia,  is  about 
160.  But  there  are  many  portions  of  the  eastern  section  of  the  country 
which  are  as  densely  populated  as  any  of  the  European  States,  with  the 
single  exception  of  Belgium. 

The  low  cost  of  the  railway  service  in  the  United  States  makes  the 
distance  between  the  farm  and  the  factory  of  very  little  consequence 
so  long  as  there  are  no  artificial  obstructions  to  commerce.  The  whole 
country  is  one  great  neighborhood  in  which  each  man  serves  the  other; 
and  this  is  its  true  strength.  The  wages  for  one  day’s  work  of  an 
average  mechanic  in  the  far  East  will  pay  for  moving  a  year’s  sub¬ 


sistence  of  bread  and  meat  a  thousand  miles  or  more  from  the  distant 


West. 


On  the  other  hand  Europe  is  filled  with  obstructions  to  commerce 
which  are  far  more  diffi-  IV 

cult  to  surmount  than  that  grain  crops  of  the  united  states. 


of  distance. 

In  other  conditions 
aside  from  land  there  is 
a  considerable  similarity 
between  this  country  and 
Europe.  Until  a  very  re¬ 
cent  period  more  than 
one  half  the  territory  of 
Europe  was  still  kept  back 
in  its  progress  by  the  serf¬ 
dom  of  the  peasantry  of 
Russia  ;  while  nearly  one 
half  the  territory  of  the 
United  States  which  had 
been  occupied  before  the 
opening  of  the  Civil  War 
was  kept  back  in  its  mate¬ 
rial  progress  by  slavery. 

Again,  there  is  as  great 
a  difference  in  the  rel¬ 
ative  conditions  of  soil 
and  climate,  and  in  the 
physical  conformation  of 
the  land — as  great  a  differ¬ 
ence  between  the  moun¬ 
tains  and  plains,  of  the 
United  States,  as  there  is 
in  Europe. 


Maize  or  Indian  Corn,  Wheat,  Rye,  Barley,  Oats,  and 
Buckwheat.  From  the  Reports  of  the  United 
States  Department  of  Agriculture. 


10 

VO 

00 

H 

.  1,127,499,187 

1866  . 

•  1.343)027,868 

VO 

00 

H 

.  1,329,929,400 

1868  . 

.  1,450,789,000 

1869  . 

.  1,491,412,100 

1870  . 

.  1,629,027,600 

H 

00 

H 

•  1,528,776,100 

W 

OO 

to 

.  1,664,331,600 

1873  • 

•  1,538,892,891 

1874  . 

.  1,455,180,200 

1875  • 

.  2,032,235,300 

1876  . 

.  1,962,821,600 

1877  . 

.  2,178,934,646 

1878  . 

.  2,302,254,950 

1879  • 

.  2,434,884,541 

1880  . 

.  2,448,079,181 

1881  . 

.  2,066,029,570 

1882  . 

•  2,699,394,496 

1883  . 

•  2,623,319,089 

1884  . 

.  2,982,246,000 

1885  . 

•  3,014,063,984 

The  close  coincidence  between  the  increase  in  the  miles  of 
railway  constructed  and  the  bushels  of  grain  produced  will  be 
observed. 

It  may  be  held  that  by  the  construction  of  railways  in 
advance  of  the  population  a  great  rise  in  the  value  of  fertile 
land  in  the  East  has  been  retarded  and  the  increased  product 
of  the  Western  farmer  has  been  rendered  possible  ;  while 
under  the  land-grant  system,  land  which  might  otherwise 
have  been  sold  in  large  parcels  has  been  broken  up  into  small 
farms  by  the  reservation  of  alternate  sections.  Under  this 
influence,  a  superabundant  supply  of  food  has  been  produced 
by  a  less  proportion  of  the  population  occupied  in  agriculture 
in  1885  than  in  1865. 

The  grain  crops  of  the  United  States  subsequent  to  the 
publication  of  this  article  have  been  : 

1886  .  3,015,439,000  bushels 

1887  .  2,649,613,000  *  ,, 

1888  .  3,200,000,000  ,,  estimated  in  part. 

If  the  early  promise  of  the  season  of  1889  is  maintained,  the 
crop  of  grain  will  be  the  largest  ever  grown,  both  absolutely 
and  in  ratio  to  population. 


62 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


The  relative  differences  in  the  conditions  of  the  people  of  the  several 
states  of  either  continent  must  therefore  be  sought  in  some  other  cause 
than  in  the  physical  geography  or  the  climatology  of  the  two  continents. 

Reference  may  perhaps  be  made  to  the  difference  in  language  and 
in  creed  in  Europe.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  settlers  who 
have  occupied  the  United  States  formerly  differed  as  much  as  the 
people  of  Europe  in  these  matters  ;  yet  the  common  school  of  this 
country  has  proved,  or  is  proving,  to  be  tire  solvent  of  race,  creed, 
language,  color,  and  condition,  and  is  rapidly  merging  the  whole  popu¬ 
lation,  so  far  as  the  conditions  of  material  welfare  are  concerned,  into 
one  single  and  substantial  body-politic,  as  firmly  bound  together  as  if 
all  the  people  had  been  strictly  homogeneous. 

It  is  not,  however,  the  purpose,  nor  would  it  be  within  the  ability 
of  the  writer,  to  attempt  any  general  treatment  of  the  profound  differ- 

/f  v  ;  ences  which  have  brought  the 

PRODUCT  OF  GRAIN  PER  CAPITA.  \ 
nd  Ratio  of  the  Increase  of  Grain  to  the  \ 

Increase  of  Population. 


Bshls.  Ratio  to 


per 

Date.  head. 


1865  . 

1866  , 

1867  . 

1868  , 

1869  . 

1870  , 

1871  . 

1872 

1873 

1874 

1875 

1876 

1877 

1878 

1879 

1880 

1881 

1882 

1883 

1884 

1885 


3?-5.2_ 


popu¬ 

lation. 

1. 00 


37.80  . 

36.73  - 

39-3°  ■ 
39-44  • 
42.24  . 
38.64  . 
41.00  , 
36.90  . 
34.00  . 

46.19 
43-50  • 
47.00  . 

48.37  • 

50.20  , 

48.80 
40.00 
51.12 
48.40 
53-68 

52-50 


1. 16 
i-i3 
1. 21 
1. 21 
1.30 
1. 19 
1.26 

1.05 

1.42 

i-34 

1.44 

1.49 
i-54 

1.50 
1.23 
i-57 
1.49 
1.65 
1.60 


t 

The  increase  in  the  per  capita  product  of  grain 
does  not  show  as  conspicuously  on  the  chart  as  the 
absolute  increase,  but  it  gives  even  greater  evidence 
of  progress  in  common  welfare.  A  less  proportion  of 
the  population  is  now  occupied  in  agriculture,  and 
especially  in  the  production  of  grain,  than  was  re¬ 
quired  at  the  beginning  of  this  period,  while  the  sub¬ 
stitution  of  machinery  for  the  arduous  handwork  of  a 
former  day  has  greatly  relieved  the  severity  of  the 
toil,  and  rendered  the  harvest  much  more  certain. 


greater  part  of  continental  Eu¬ 
rope  either  to  actual  or  prospec¬ 
tive  national  bankruptcy,  and  in 
some  places  to  such  abject  con¬ 
ditions  of  want  as  may  perhaps 
account  for  the  conditions  of 
socialism,  communism,  nihilism, 
and  anarchy.  These  phases  of 
resistance  to  social  order  as  now 
established  may  perhaps  be 
deemed  only  the  reflex  or  com¬ 
plement  of  despotism  or  of  dy¬ 
nastic  privileges,  and  of  misap¬ 
plied  and  misdirected  national 
greed  as  yet  unenlightened  as  to 
what  is  the  true  source  of  the 
wealth  of  nations. 

The  business  man  who  at¬ 
tempts  to  comprehend  the  causes 
and  effects  of  existing  conditions 
may  well  leave  the  philosophy  of 
the  subject  to  the  student  and  to 
the  statesman  ;  but  perhaps  such 
a  one  can  apply  common  busi¬ 
ness  methods  of  account  to  the 
conditions  of  the  present,  and  by 
sorting  assets  and  liabilities  and 
striking  a  trial  balance  of  the 
accounts  of  the  several  civilized 


The  Relative  Strength  and  Weakness  of  Nations.  63 


states  of  the  world,  he  may  perhaps  throw  a  little  light  upon  problems 
which  students  and  statesmen  alike  now  seem  to  be  incapable  of  solving. 

There  can  be  no  question  that  the  3,000,000  square  miles  of  habit¬ 
able  land  in  Europe,  taken  as  a  whole,  could  sustain  in  peace  and 
plenty  a  very  much  larger  population  than  now  exists  thereon,  if  the 
relations  of  the  people  among  themselves  were  the  same  as  the  rela¬ 
tions  of  the  people  of  the  several  States  of  this  Union  to  each  other. 
The  potential  of  subsistence  in  Europe  has  not  yet  been  approached. 

Again,  if  there  were  no  greater  obstruction  to  mutual  service  be¬ 
tween  the  people  of  Asia  Minor  and  of  North  Africa,  especially  Egypt, 
than  now  exists  or  may  soon  exist  between  the  United  States  and  the 
Dominion  of  Canada,  an  absolute  abundance  of  food,  fibres,  fuel,  and 
materials  for  shelter,  upon  which  material  life  and  welfare  depend, 
would  be  assured  to  as  large  a  population  in  Europe  as  the  absolute 
but  visionary  figures  of  our  census  bring  into  prospective  view  upon 
this  continent  a  century  hence. 

If  such  are  the  natural  conditions,  then  the  social  and  political  dif- 
lerences  must  be  weighed  in  the  trial  balance  of  nations  by  their  mate¬ 
rial  results.  W e  will  set  off  democracy  against  dynasties  in  figures  and 
by  the  facts  of  life. 

In  the  attempt  to  bring  into  comparison  the  absolute  weakness  of  the 
states  or  nations  of  Europe 
whose  chief  strength  is  now 
assumed  to  be  in  their  armies 
and  navies,  I  have  used 
tables  showing  the  progress 
of  the  industries  and  arts 
upon  which  our  own  mate¬ 
rial  welfare  chiefly  rests, 
dating  from  1865  to  1885, 
inclusive.  Several  of  these 
tables  have  been  previously 
used  in  other  publications, 
but  they  are  now,  brought 
down  to  the  latest  dates  and 
grouped  together  in  such  a 
way  as  to  show  their  real 
significance. 

In  Europe  we  find  nine¬ 
teen  separate  and  partly  or 
wholly  independent  nations  or 
states,  nearly  all  governed 
by  dynasties,  with  the  excep¬ 
tion  of  Switzerland.  Even 


1865 

1866 

1867 

1868 

1869 

1870 

1871 

1872 

1873 

1874 

1875 

1876 

1877 

1878 

1879 

1880 

1881 

1882 

1883 

1884 


VI. 

HAY  CROP  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 
From  the  Statistics  of  the  Department  of 
Agriculture. 

Tons. 

23,538,74° 

21,778,627 
26,277,000 
26,141,900 
26,420,000 

24,525,°°° 

22,239,400 
23,8x2,800 
25,085,100 

24,I33,9°° 

27,873,600 
30,867,100 
31,629,300 
39,608,296 
35,493,000 
31,925,233 

35A35,o64 
38,138,049 
46,864,009 
48,470,460 


The  hay  crop  at  the  farm  is  worth  much  more  than  the 
cotton  crop  at  the  factory. 

Food  costs  the  average  family  three  to  four  times  as 
much  as  clothing.  The  combined  value  of  the  poultry 
and  eggs  only  which  are  annually  consumed  is  computed 
at  $200,000,000.  This  is  more  than  the  value  of  the  pro¬ 
duct  of  pig-iron, silver  bullion,  and  the  wool-clip  combined. 


64 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation 


in  republican  states 
like  France,  the  dynas¬ 
tic  method  has  not  yet 
been  displaced  by  local 
self-government  in  any 
true  sense  of  that  term, 
while  in  Great  Britain, 
which  in  some  respects 
is  more  democratic  than 
the  United  States,  or  is 
rapidly  becoming  so,  a 
feudal  practice  of  land- 
tenure  remains  in  force 
and  the  paternal  form 
of  government  yet  dom¬ 
inates  internal  affairs, 
although  it  has  been 
almost  wholly  thrown 
off  in  respect  to  for¬ 
eign  commerce.  This 
centralized  system  ap¬ 
pears  to  be  now  culmi¬ 
nating  in  the  final  strug¬ 
gle  of  the  English 
Parliament  to  relieve 
itself  of  duties  which 
have  become  almost 
impossible,  and  to  rele- 


VII. 

PRODUCT  OF  PIG-IRON  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Compiled  from  the  Records  of  the  Iron  and  Steel 

Association. 

Estimate  of  1886,  given  by  courtesy  of  the  Secretary,  Mr.  James  M. 

Swank. 


Tons  of  2,000  lbs. 

1865 

•  •  93G582 

1866 

■  •  1  ,35°, 343 

1867 

.  .  1,461,626 

1868 

.  .  1,603,000 

1869 

.  .  1,916,641 

1870 

.  .  1,865,000 

1871 

.  .  1,9x1,608 

1872 

.  .  2,854,558 

1873 

.  .  2,868,278 

1874 

,  .  2,689,413 

M 

00 

'-a 

La 

.  .  2,266,581 

1876 

•  •  2,093,236 

1877 

.  .  2,314,585 

1878 

•  •  2,577i36i 

w 

00 

*<1 

VO 

.  .  3,070,875 

1880 

•  ■  4,295,4I4 

1881 

.  .  4,641,564 

1882 

.  .  5,178,122 

1883 

•  •  5,i46,972 

00 

CO 

M 

.  .  4,589,613 

IT) 

CO 

00 

M 

.  .  4,529,869 

1886 

.  .  5,600,000 
estimated 

The  ascertained 
the  publication  of 

1886 

1887 

1888 

1889 

6,365,328  tons, 

7,187,206  “ 

7,268,507  11 

Estimated  by  Mr.  Swank  at  about  the 
same  number  of  tons  as  in  1888. 


The  production  of  pig-iron  is  an  arduous  and  somewhat  undesirable  occupation,  giving  employ¬ 
ment  at  the  present  date,  1889,  in  this  country  to  about  150,000  men  and  boys.  On  the  other  hand, 
this  relative  consumption  of  iron  and  steel  is  one  of  our  surest  standards  by  which  the  progress  of  a 
nation  in  material  welfare  may  be  measured. 

The  production  of  iron  and  steel  in  this  country  has  not  sufficed  to  meet  the  demands  at  several 
periods  during  the  last  twenty-five  years  when  railway  construction  has  been  active — especially  in 
the  last  decade.  The  production  of  pig-iron  for  the  years  1879  to  1888  inclusive  amounted  to  fifty-two 
and  a  quarter  million  tons  of  2,000  lbs.  each  ;  the  consumption  in  the  same  period  has  been  over  sixty 
million  tons,  two  thirds  consumed  in  the  form  of  iron,  and  one  third  in  the  form  of  steel.  This  con¬ 
sumption  was  equal  to  nearly  thirty  per  cent,  of  the  entire  production  of  the  world  during  this  period, 
and  in  1887  our  consumption  of  300  lbs.  per  capita  was  equal  to  nearly  forty  percent,  of  the  production 
of  the  world. 

The  prices  of  iron  and  steel  have  been  steadily  falling,  subject  to  occasional  upward  fluctuations, 
since  1865,  both  in  this  and  all  other  countries,  and  with  the  reduction  the  use  of  iron  and  steel  for 
various  purposes  other  than  railway  construction  has  steadily  increased.  * 

While  the  absolute  price  has  thus  been  reduced,  the  relative  disparity  or  difference  in  price  in  the 
United  States  as  compared  to  other  countries  has  increased.  From  1879  to  1888  inclusive,  the  relative 
difference  paid  by  consumers  in  this  'country  has  averaged  $7  per  ton  on  iron  and  $7  per  ton  addi¬ 
tional  on  steel  taking  Bessemer  metal  for  comparison.  The  amount  of  this  difference  paid  by  con¬ 
sumers  here  as  compared  to  consumers  in  Great  Britain  has  amounted  to  $420,000,000  on  60,000,000 
tons  iron,  with  $140,000,000  added  at  $7  per  ton  on  20,000,000  tons  converted  into  steel,  making 
$560,000,000  in  all.  It  is  therefore  not  surprising  that  the  import  of  machinery  and  other  fabrics  of 
metal  should  be  increasing.  The  effect  of  our  tariff  has  doubtless  been  to  increase  our  actual  prod¬ 
uct  and  perhaps  to  have  hastened  the  general  reduction  in  price  both  here  and  elsewhere,  but 
the  cost  of  this  method  of  promoting  the  production  of  iron  and  steel  has  averaged  $56,000,000  a 
year  for  ten  years,  making  the  total  above  given,  which  sum  amounts  to  more  than  the  entire  capital 
now  invested  in  all  the  iron  mines,  blast  furnaces,  steel  works,  and  rolling  mills  now  in  existence 
in  this  country.  Whether  this  method  of  promoting  the  domestic  production  of  iron  and  steel  has 
been  worth  what  it  has  cost  is  a  question  which  must  soon  be  considered. 


The  Relative  Strength  and  Weakness  of  Nations.  65 


VIII. 

COTTON  CROPS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


gate  to  the  people  not  only  of  Ireland,  but  of  England,  Scotland,  and 
Wales  as  well,  the  functions  of  home-rule,  of  self-government,  and  the 
charge  of  their  own  local  affairs. 

Members  of  Parliament  appear  to  have  at  length  discovered  that  the 
lesser  details  of  local  affairs  are  entirely  beyond  the  power  even  of  a  rep¬ 
resentative  but  single  and 
centralized  Parliament,  al¬ 
though  such  Parliament 
may  be  nominally  su¬ 
preme.  One  can  more 
readily  comprehend  the 
present  condition  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  by  im¬ 
agining  the  deadlock  which 
would  arise  in  this  coun¬ 
try  if  it  were  necessary  to 
apply  to  Congress  for  an 
act  to  construct  water  or 
sewage  works  for  the  ser¬ 
vice  of  each  town  or  city  in 
Massachusetts  or  any  other 
State,  or  to  build  a  railroad 
in  any  part  of  the  country. 

In  the  United  States, 
on  the  other  hand,  we  find 
thirty-eight  interdependent 
States  to  which  others  may 
soon  be  added,  in  each  of 
which  local  self-govern¬ 
ment  in  the  strictest  sense 
is  absolutely  assured  by 
the  support  of  the  central 
sustaining  power  of  the 
nation.  We  have  neither 
the  weakness  of  the  cen- 


Bales 
.  2,228,987 

.  2,059,271 

.  2,498,898 

.  2, 439*°39 

•  3i154i946 

•  4*352, 317 

•  2,974,351 
3,930,508 

•  4,170,388 

•  3,832,99! 

.  4,669.288 
.  4,485,423 
.  4,811,000 

•  5,073,53i 

•  5,757,397 
.  6,589,329 

•  5,435,845 
.  6,992,234 
.  5,714,052 
.  5,669,021 
.  6,550,215 

93,389,031 

1841-1861 

inclusive,  58,441,906 


1865- 66  . 

1866- 67  . 

1867- 68  . 

1868- 69  . 

1869- 70  . 

1870- 71  . 

1871- 72  . 

1872- 73  . 

1873- 74  . 

1874- 75  • 

1875- 76  . 

1876- 77  . 

1877- 78  . 

1878- 79  . 

1879- 80  . 

1880- 81  . 

1881- 82  . 

1882- 83  . 

1883- 84  . 

1884- 85  . 

1885- 86  . 


34,947,I25 


21  crops  made  by  free  labor. 
21  crops  made  by  slave  labor. 
21  excess  by  free  labor. 


The  average  weight,  per  bale,  has  also  steadily  increased. 

The  value  of  35,000,000  bales  of  cotton  produced  by  free  labor  in  excess  of  the  product  of  slave  labor 
cannot  have  been  less  than  $2,000,000,000  or  about  the  full  valuation  of  all  the  slaves  who  were  made 
free  by  the  war.  This  gain  is  due  not  only  to  the  freedom  given  to  the  blacks,  but  to  the  emancipation 
of  the  white  men  of  the  South  from  the  indignity  of  enforced  idleness. 

The  cotton  crops  of  the  United  States  subsequent  to  the  publication  of  this  article  have  been  : 

1886- 87  .  .  .  6,513,623  bales 

1887- 88  .  .  .  7,017,707  “ 

1888- 89  •  estimated  7,100,000  “ 

To  the  value  of  the  cotton  crop  may  now  be  added  the  utilization  of  the  cotton  seed  and  its  conversion 
into  oil,  food  for  cattle,  and  other  purposes.  Under  the  old  system  of  slave  labor  the  cotton  seed  was 
nearly  all  wasted  :  yet  such  was  its  known  theoretical  value  to  those  who  had  made  a  complete  study 
of  the  plant,  as  to  have  justified  the  writer  in  stating  in  a  treatise  on  11  Cheap  Cotton  by  Free  Labor,” 
printed  in  1861,  that  if  there  were  a  variety  of  the  cotton  plant  which  could  have  been  grown  in  the 
Northern  States  producing  only  seed  but  no  lint,  it  would  long  before  have  become  one  of  the  valuable 
crops  of  free  labor. 

5 


66 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation 


tralized  nation  nor  that  of 
the  separate  petty  states  ; 
but  under  our  system  we 
have  the  united  power  of  a 
body  of  English-speaking 
people  outnumbering  all 
the  English-speaking  peo¬ 
ple  of  Great  Britain  and 
her  colonies  combined. 

In  the  town-meeting  of 
New  England,  and  of 
some  of  the  W estern  States 
which  were  settled  by  her 
children,  and  in  somewhat 
less  degree  in  the  county 
divisions  of  other  States, 
we  find  an  absolute  dem¬ 
ocracy  guarding  its  own 
local  affairs  with  a  jeal¬ 
ousy  of  centralized  power 
which  is  sometimes  even 
too  urgently  expressed. 
Each  little  community  is, 
perhaps,  more  self-govern¬ 
ing  and  self-sustaining  un¬ 
der  the  protection,  first  of 
the  State  and  next  of  the 
Nation,  than  any  whichever 
before  existed  in  any  civil¬ 
ized  state,  or  in  any  period 
of  time  since  the  Norsemen 
clashed  their  shields  in  the 
meetings  of  the  freemen, 
from  whom  so  much  of  our 
liberty  has  been  derived. 


IX. 

PROGRESS  IN  WEALTH. 

Computations  of  wealth,  such  as  are  given  in  the  census, 
are  not  of  much  value.  Progress  in  wealth  can,  perhaps,  be 
measured  as  accurately  by  the  amount  of  insurance  against 
loss  by  fire  as  by  any  other  standard. 

The  following  table,  compiled  by  Mr.  C.  C.  Hine,  editor  of 
the  Insurance  Monitor,  of  New  York,  gives  the  amount  of 
risks  taken  by  all  the  fire  insurance  companies  which  are 
licensed  to  transact  business  in  the  State  of  New  York. 

In  the  judgment  of  Mr.  Hine,  about  ninety  per  cent,  of  all 
the  insurance  taken  in  the  United  States  is  covered  by  the 
companies  which  make  an  annual  report  of  their  whole  busi¬ 
ness  in  the  United  States  to  the  Insurance  Commissioner  of 
this  State. 

The  effect  of  the  war  may  be  traced  by  the  apparent  reduc¬ 
tion  of  risks  during  the  period  in  which  business  intercourse 
with  the  Southern  States  was  interrupted. 

Year.  Risks  taken.  Proportion. 


1859  •  • 

r,498,569,i25 

i860  .  . 

U345<°°4<487 

1861  .  . 

1,258,972,728 

1862  .  . 

U373i766'64i 

r863  .  . 

1,612,361,852 

1864  .  . 

2,223,833,544 

1865  .  . 

2,564,112,505 

1866  .  . 

2,945,38i,297 

1867  .  . 

3,165,666,666 

1868  .  . 

3,420,490,029 

1869  .  . 

3,778,7i3,296 

1870  .  . 

4,°35,9°7,596 

i87r  .  . 

3,987,386,026 

1872  .  . 

4,529,668,173 

1873  .  . 

5,783,777,8i8 

1874  .  . 

5,889,403,314 

H 

00 

Ln 

■  6,039,507,339 

1876  .  . 

5, 9^,565, 9°4 

1877  .  . 

6,008,976,461 

1878  .  . 

6,229,312,193 

1879  •  ■ 

■  6,673,099,069 

1880  .  , 

•  7,184,511,455 

i88r  . 

■  7,949,58i,5i6 

1882  . 

•  8,534,253,737 

1883  . 

•  9G59,423,527 

1884  . 

•  9,736,329,252 

1885  . 

■  10,517,940^75 

Insurance  risks  reported  to  the  Commissioner  of  the  State  of  New  York  subsequently  : 

1886  .  .  .  $11,349,685,459  1888  .  ..  .  13,093,938,785 

1887  .  .  .  12,230,325,078  1889  .  Estimated  13,800,000,000 

There  are  no  absolute  data  for  computing  the  risks  which  are  not  reported  to  the  Commissioner 

of  the  State  of  New  York.  The  Factory  Mutual  Companies  of  New  England  cover  a  little  less 
than  $500,000,000,  and  by  comparison  with  the  census  of  1880  the  local  fire  companies  which  do  not 
transact  any  business  in  the  State  of  New  York  cover  about  $700,000,000  more,  making  a  total  of  poli¬ 
cies  now  in  force  of  about  $15,000,000,000. 

This  is  a  large  and  perhaps  incomprehensible  sum,  but  as  the  population  must  now  be  over  63,- 
000,000,  it  gives  an  average  per  capita  of  only  $238. 

The  experience  of  insurance  companies  warrants  an  estimate  that  the  amount  of  insurance  car¬ 
ried  corresponds  to  about  two  thirds  the  value  of  property  that  might  be  consumed.  On  this  basis 
the  average  capital  of  the  community  which  is  subject  to  loss  by  fire  amounts  to  about  $360  per 
head.  If  foundations,  railway  tracks,  and  other  forms  of  capital  which  cannot  be  burned  amount 
to  one  third  the  amount  subject  to  loss  by  fire,  then  the  actual  capital  may  be  $480  to  $500  per  head  ; 
this  sum  reached  by  a  wholly  different  process  of  computation,  very  fairly  sustaining  the  estimates 
of  the  census  of  r88o,  which  came  to  $870  per  head,  including  land,  and  less  than  $500  aside  from  the 
valuation  of  land.  It  also  sustains  the  estimates  of  economists  and  statisticians,  that  the  capital  of 
the  richest  community  seldom  or  never  exceeds  the  value  of  two  or  three  years’  production,  which  I 
have  elsewhere  computed  at  not  over  $200  per  head  in  1880. 


The  Relative  Strength  and  Weakness  of  Nations.  67 


What  would  have  been  our  condition  had  the  Potomac  become  the 
Rhine,  dividing  two  nominally  independent  states  or  communities,  or 
had  the  country  beyond  the  Mississippi  remained  under  the  dominion 
of  a  foreign  nation  ? 

We  may  answer  this  question  by  referring  to  the  facts.  The  nine¬ 
teen  independent  states  of  Europe,  whether  empires,  kingdoms,  duke¬ 
doms,  or  republics,  require  a  standing  army  of  over  four  million  men 
in  the  aggregate,  constantly  under  arms,  to  guard  the  frontiers  and  to 
maintain  the  so-called  balance  of  power.  About  ten  million  more  men 
are  held  in  reserve  who  have  already  wasted  the  best  and  most  pro¬ 
ductive  part  of  their  lives  in  preparing  for,  or  in  active  war. 

The  thirty-eight  interdependent  States  of  this  country  require  a 
standing  army  of  only  25,000  men,  serving  mostly  as  a  border  police, 
and  also  forming  a  nucleus  around  which  freemen  may  gather  at  a 
day’s  warning,  to  be  formed  into  an  army  with  which  it  would  be  use¬ 
less  for  any  foreign  or  domestic  disturbers  of  the  peace  to  attempt  to 
cope. 

To  what  do  we  owe  this  immunity  from  force?  Is  it  not  mainly 
because  we  have  almost  learned  the  open  secret  that  in  all  commerce, 
whether  between  states  or  with  other  nations,  each  man  serves  the 
other,  and  that  the  gain  of  each  is  the  gain  of  all  ? 

Was  there  any  more  potent  influence  by  which  the  people  were  in¬ 
duced  to  surrender  their  carefully  guarded  separate  existence  under 
the  confederate  form  of  government  which  preceded  the  adoption  of 
the  Constitution,  than  the  difficulties  and  dangers  to  the  Union,  which 
occurred  during  the  Revolution  itself,  and  also  in  the  short  period 
from  1783  to  1787,  growing  out  of  the  separate  attempts  to  control  not 
only  the  trade  with  foreign  countries,  but  of  the  several  States  each 
with  the  other,  by  separate  laws  and  regulations  ? 

Were  not  the  prime  causes  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution  itself  and 
the  separation  of  the  colonies  of  America  and  Great  Britain  strictly 
commercial  in  their  character  ?  The  resistance  to  the  stamp  tax  was 
but  the  final  pretext.  The  real  grievances  had  existed  for  a  long 
period,  and  they  consisted  in  the  attempt  of  England  to  prevent  the 
manufacture  of  iron  and  steel  in  the  colonies,  and  to  repress  textile 
manufactures,  which  were  rapidly  becoming  established.  To  this  end 
repressive  laws  were  passed,  commerce  between  the  several  colonies 
was  restricted  or  forbidden,  and  the  navigation  acts,  passed  at  the 
instance  of  the  Long  Parliament  in  a  vain  attempt  to  destroy  the  free 
commerce  of  the  Dutch,  were  revived  in  an  equally  futile  attempt  to 
restrict  the  growing  commerce  of  the  colonies,  especially  with  the 
West  Indies  and  the  Spanish  Main.  John  Hancock  had  himself 
been  one  of  the  great  smugglers  of  his  day.  It  remained  for  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  to  do  what  Great  Britain  failed  to  ac- 


68 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


complish.  By  means  of  the  same  navigation  acts,  modeled  on  those 
of  Cromwell’s  time  (known  as  the  12th  of  Charles  II.),  applied  to  our 
own  people,  we  have  substantially  succeeded  in  driving  our  own  flag 
from  the  ocean. 

Whatever  may  now  be  the  difference  of  opinion  among  men  of 
affairs  in  this  country  in  regard  to  the  conditions  by  which  foreign 
commerce  shall  be  conducted,  there  is  but  one  common  judgment  as 
to  the  vastly  greater  commerce  which  exists  among  ourselves.  No  one 
now  questions  that  the  stability  of  this  nation  and  its  exemption  from 
the  necessity  of  a  large  permanent  armament  have  been  more  fully 
assured  by  the  single  provision  of  our  organic  law  which  forbids  any 
interference  with  commerce  between  the  several  States,  than  by  any 
other  law  or  custom  which  exists  among  us.  Had  it  not  been  for  this 
absolute  freedom  of  domestic  trade,  we  might  have  repeated  the  blun¬ 
ders  of  European  states,  and  we  might  now  be  in  almost  as  desperate 
a  condition  as  many  of  them  are  in. 

It  will  be  in  no  boastful  spirit  that  some  of  the  material  results  of  a 
century  of  the  constitutional  history  of  this  country  will  now  be  given 
and  the  balance  struck  with  other  states  or  nations.  It  is  only  since 
the  passive  war  of  slavery  culminated  in  the  active  war  by  which  it 
destroyed  itself,  that  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  could  face  the 
English-speaking  people  of  other  lands  without  a  blush  of  shame.  It 
is  only  in  the  last  twenty-one  years,  or  since  slavery  Anally  surrendered 


x. 

The  following  Recapitulation  is  substituted  for  one  which  was  given  in  the  original  article ;  it  is 
brought  down  to  a  later  date. 

1 

Percentage  of 

Gain  in  Population,  Production,  Wealth,  and  Savings,  1870  to  1885,  and  on  Some  Items  to  1886. 


To  1885.  Population .  48 

1885.  Production  of  grain .  85 

1885.  Consumption  of  cotton.  .  86 

1885.  Consumption  of  wool  ...  88 

1885.  Production  of  hay . 100 

1885.  Deposits  in  savings-banks 

of  Massachusetts . 102 

1885.  Production  of  cotton  ....  108 

1886.  Deposits  in  savings-banks 

of  Massachusetts . 115 

1885.  Production  of  iron . 143 

1885.  Insurance  of  property 

against  loss  by  fire  ....  160 

1885.  Miles  of  railroad . 168 

1886.  Miles  of  railroad . 192 

1886.  Production  of  iron . 200 


In  considering  these  relative  gains  it  will  be  observed  that  they  represent  a  constant  gain  in  the 
means  of  subsistence  over  population  ;  that  with  the  exception  of  the  increase  in  personal  wealth,  which 
is  indicated  by  the  increase  in  the  amount  of  property  insured  against  loss  by  fire,  they  represent  the 
progress  of  the  million  in  the  means  of  common  welfare  rather  than  of  the  millionaire  in  personal 
wealth,  and  that  they  give  testimony  to  the  beneficent  law  of  progress  from  poverty. 


The  Relative  Strength  and  Weakness  of  Nations.  69 


at  Richmond,  that  local  self-government  has  had  any  existence  over 
the  southern  half  of  our  country.  The  Southern  States  have  gained  in 
their  defeat  the  very  end  for  which  they  rebelled  j  and  they  have  now 
discovered  for  themselves  that  local  self-government  can  only  exist  in  any 
true  sense  where  the  equal 
rights  of  all  men  are  respect¬ 
ed ,  and  when  sustained  by 
the  power  of  a  great  nation. 

There  has  been  not 
only  such  a  revolution  of 
institutions  but  of  ideas  in 
the  Southern  States,  that 
it  would  take  a  larger 
Northern  army  to  re-im- 
pose  the  burden  of  slavery 
upon  them  than  it  did  to 
remove  it.  The  growing 
prosperity  born  of  liberty 
is  now  so  fully  assured 
that  the  very  “  rebel  brig¬ 
adiers  ”  have  become  most 
loyal  citizens  and  safe  leg¬ 
islators  ;  yet  less  than  a 
generation  has  passed 
since  all  this  was  accom- 
All  that  we  can 
therefore  claim  is  that  we 
have  just  begun  to  corn- 

common  welfare,  while  we 
admit  that  we  have  yet 
much  to  learn. 

It  will  be  apparent,  from  the  consideration  of  the  quality  and  kind  of  products  of  which  the  increase 
has  been  so  very  great  during  the  last  twenty-five  years,  that  the  gain  has  been  mainly  in  the  products 
which  are  of  common  consumption  by  the  great  mass  of  the  people — food,  metals,  and  fibres.  This 
great  additional  supply  of  materials  of  common  consumption,  or  which  are  used  in  the  processes  of  do¬ 
mestic  industry,  either  directly  or  when  exchanged  for  foreign  imports  for  similar  use,  must  have  been 
mainly  consumed  by  the  great  mass  of  the  people,  because  the  small  number  of  the  rich,  and  the 
somewhat  larger  number  of  the  well-off  who  cannot  be  called  rich,  were  already  able  to  provide  them¬ 
selves  with  all  that  they  could  possibly  require  of  such  articles  as  wheat,  corn,  cotton,  iron,  wool, 
and  the  like.  Hence  it  follows  of  necessity  that  the  additional  product  must  have  been  consumed  in 
such  a  way  as  to  add  greatly  to  the  material  welfare  of  the  great  masses  of  the  people.  Under  such 
conditions  one  would  rightly  expect  the  result  to  be  a  prolongation  of  life  ;  a  more  ample  supply  of 
food  and  clothing,  better  shelter,  easier  methods  of  distribution,  coupled  with  great  progress  in  sani¬ 
tary  science  would  of  necessity  tend  to  an  increase  in  the  duration  of  life.  This  expectation  has  been 
realized.  [Through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  William  P.  Stewart,  one  of  the  most  experienced  actuaries  in 
the  country,  I  am  permitted  to  print  a  table  (page  70)  which  he  has  lately  prepared,  showing  the  actual 
and  possible  curves  of  life,  giving  scientific  proof  of  progressive  increase  in  the  duration  of  human  life.] 
Had  it  not  been  for  this  increase  in  the  duration  of  life,  it  might  have  happened  that  life-insurance 
companies  would  have  suffered  from  the  reduction  in  the  rate  of  interest  which  they  are  now  obliged 
to  accept  on  their  investments  in  consequence  of  the  rapid  accumulation  of  capital ;  but  it  will  be  very 
plain  that  if,  coincidently  with  the  reduction  in  the  rate  of  income  upon  investmertts,  the  duration  of 
life  insured  is  being  prolonged,  then  policies  issued  on  existing  tables  might  be  even  safer  than  they 
were  under  former  conditions,  while  it  may  soon  happen  that  the  rates  of  premium  which  are  now  estab¬ 
lished  may  be  computed  on  new  tables  computed  at  lower  rates. 


prehend  the  problem  of 


plished 


XI. 

LIFE  INSURANCE. 

Compiled  by  Mr.  C.  C.  Hine,  Editor  of  the  “  Insurance 
Monitor,”  of  New  York. 

There  are  now  twenty-nine  solvent  and  prosperous  life  in¬ 
surance  companies  in  the  United  States,  of  which  nineteen 
were  in  existence  in  1865.  Between  these  two  dates  others 
have  become  insolvent. 

The  data  below  show  the  progress  of  the  existing  companies 
by  a  comparison  of  their  risks  in  force  in  each  year. 


1865.  . 

1866.  . 

1867.  . 

1868.  . 

1869.  . 

1870.  . 

1871.  . 

1872.  . 

1873.  . 

1874.  . 

1875.  . 

1876. . 

1877.  . 

1878.  . 

1879.  . 

1880. . 

1881.  . 

1882.  . 

1883.  . 

1884.  . 

1885.  . 


.  507,285,914 
•  731, 373, 332 

.  947,676,897 
.1,217,729,344 
•L353, 585,723 
.i,44L334,237 
.1,451,410.487 
.1,542,015,515 
.1,602,394,973 
.1,609,841,449 
.1,603,464,680 

•1,573,972,605 

.1,496,596,847 

.1,429,506,323 

.1,422,817,588 

.1,464,250,018 

.1,539,846,581 

.1,637,582,773 

•H763t73°,°i5 

.1.870,745,521 

.2,023,517,488 


7o 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


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VITAL  STUDIES,  BY  MR.  WM.  ,P.  STEWART,  PROFESSIONAL  ACTUARY,  NEW  YORK 


The  Relative  Strength  and  Weakness  of  Nations .  7 1 

Short  as  has  been  the  period  since  we  first  began  to  reap  the  harvest 
of  true  liberty,  yet  cannot  the  words 

DISARM  OR  STARVE 

be  read  between  the  lines  or  underneath  the  figures  of  the  balance-sheet 
of  nations  which  is  now  submitted  ? 

When  government  by  force  of  arms  meets  the  competition  of  a  free  peo¬ 
ple  governed  by  their  own  consent,  in  the  great  commerce  of  the  world, 
what  chance  of  success  can  there  be  on  the  part  of  states  into  the  cost  of 
whose  product  is  charged  the  blood-tax  of  huge  standing  armies  and  of 
war-debts,  or  upon  whom  a  war-tax  presses  which  takes  from  a  product 
that  would  barely  suffice  for  a  meagre  subsistence  so  much  that  many 
are  already  starving  or  only  eking  out  a  feeble  life  on  pauper  wages  ? 1 

I  have  endeavored  to  put  into  the  form  of  what  may  be  called  a  visible 
speech  the  results  of  the  comparisons  which  I  have  made  in  regard  to 
the  relative  weakness  and  strength  of  this  and  of  other  nations,2  from  the 
standpoint  simply  of  a  man  of  affairs  engaged  in  the  daily  work  of  life. 

I  have  taken  the  year  1865  as  the  starting-point.  It  is  sometimes  held, 
and  perhaps  with  truth,  that  in  the  very  struggles  which  ensued  between 
the  dates  1861  and  1865,  in  the  effort  to  eliminate  from  our  organic 
law  the  elements  of  injustice  and  wrong  by  which  it  had  been  perverted, 
that  the  imagination  of  the  people  of  both  sections  was  first  aroused 
and  their  knowledge  of  each  other  was  greatly  extended.  A  knowledge 
of  the  vast  extent  of  the  land  and  its  resources  also  became  common  to 
all.  Thus  great  enterprises  became  possible  which  might  otherwise 
have  been  deferred  for  half  a  century  or  more.  The  great  railroad 
constructor,  the  manufacturer,  and  the  merchant  of  to-day  engage  in 
affairs  as  an  ordinary  matter  of  business,  which  to  their  predecessors, 
or  even  to  themselves  in  their  earlv  manhood,  would  have  been  deemed 
impossible  of  accomplishment  in  a  whole  lifetime.  Before  the  war,  one 
line  of  railway  to  the  Pacific  was  the  vision  of  a  half-cracked  enthusiast ; 

1  When  the  people  of  this  country  shall  learn  the  simple  lesson  that  in  all  commerce 
between  men  or  nations,  both  parties  gain,  or  else  the  commerce  ceases  ;  and  that  high 
wages  in  money  or  what  money  will  buy  are  the  necessary  correlative  or  consequence 
of  low  cost  of  production,  then  may  we  expect  to  see  a  great  commercial  union  or  sys¬ 
tem  of  free  trade  among  the  English-speaking  people  of  the  world,  against  which  no 
army-ridden  nation  can  hope  to  compete.  Then  the  vision  of  Richard  Cobden,  the 
calico  printer,  and  of  John  Bright,  the  cotton-spinner,  will  become  living  truths,  and 
the  law  of  mutual  service  will  overcome  the  disorder  of  mutual  strife,  while  the  weak¬ 
ness  of  great  armies  will  compel  armed  states  and  nations  to  disband  them.  Until  this 
simple  lesson  is  learned,  the  people  of  the  United  States  will  fail  in  their  claim  to  be 
great  among  nations,  however  great  in  their  own  domain,  and  their  influence  for  right 
will  be  impaired  by  their  intellectual  and  political  mediocrity. 

2  The  substance  of  this  article  was  first  submitted  in  the  form  of  an  address  to  the  Amer¬ 
ican  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  at  the  meeting  of  1886,  held  in  Buffalo. 


72 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


to-day  the  opening  of  a  fifth  or  sixth  line  would  call  only  for  a  descrip¬ 
tive  paragraph  in  a  newspaper. 

xn*  In  the  table  on  page 

Wages,  per  Day,  of  Carpenters,  Painters,  Machinists,  . 

Blacksmiths,  Cabinet-makers,  and  Others  in  Similar  54  the  proportions  of  ai- 

O  CCU  PATIO  NS. 

Comparisons  of  wages  at  different  dates  and  in  different  places  able,  pasture,  and  fflOlin- 
are  apt  to  be  fallacious,  because  of  the  difference  in  conditions  ;  . 

therefore  certain  specific  leading  establishments  have  been  taken  tam  OP  timber  land  Of  the 
as  a  standard,  where  the  work  has  been  continuous.  The  statis-  .  -  _  .  , 

tics  were  obtained  by  the  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Labor  United  otatCS  IS  repeated 
Statistics,  in  part  from  the  books  of  the  employers  and  in  part 
from  the  accounts  of  workmen. 


Table  I.— Workmen  0/  average  capacity,  per  day . 


i860 

....  Gold 

.  .  .  $1.68 

1865 

....  Paper 

.  .  .  2.285 

1870 

11 

.  .  .  1.824 

1872 

11 

•  •  •  i-375 

00 

00 

M 

11 

.  .  .  1. 714 

1881 

....  Gold 

.  .  .  2.18 

1885 

1 1 

.  .  .  2.04 

Table  II  — 

Workmen  of 

i860 

....  Gold 

....  $2.37 

1865 

....  Paper 

.  .  •  •  2.75 

1870 

11 

....  2.25 

N 

00 

M 

11 

....  1.87 

1878 

11 

....  2.12 

1881 

....  Gold 

....  3.00 

1885 

11 

....  3.00 

from  the  January  Century 
as  the  preface  to  the  -subse¬ 
quent  tables.  Much  of 
the  pasture  land  may  yet 
be  converted  into  most 
productive  arable  land  by 
irrigation  ;  while  the 
mountain  and  timber  land 
is  permeated  by  a  great 
number  of  fertile  valleys. 

Subsections  I.  to  VI., 
inclusive,  show  the  abso¬ 
lute  use  of  land  for  our 
present  grain,  vegetable, 
and  cotton  crops,  upon 
which  we  now  produce 
grain  enough  for  80,000,- 

Relative  Purchasing  Power  of  One  Dollar  of  Lawful  ooo  and  COtton  enough 
Money  at  Different  Dates,  as  Compiled  by  Mr.  Wm.  M.  ’  & 

Grosvenor  by  the  Tabulation  of  the  Prices  of  Two  for  2^0,000,000  people  Or 
Hundred  Articles,  Comprising  Nearly  Every  Commodity  j  '  * 

in  Common  Use,  One  Dollar  of  Gold  being  taken  as  a 
Standard  in  i860,  Represented  by  a  Purchasing  Power 
of  100. 

One  dollar,  lawful  money, 

i860 .  100 


May  1,  1865 .  56.84 


1870 .  75-47 


1872 .  74.45 


1878 


1881 


1885 


Average,  year  1885 


118.76 


102.97 


123.63 


126.44 


more. 

Sub-sections  VII.,  VIII., 
and  IX.,  if  they  were  cul¬ 
tivated  by  well-known 
methods  of  intensive 
farming,  would  suffice  for 
a  larger  product  of  beef, 
wool,  and  mutton,  and  of 
milk,  butter,  and  cheese, 
than  is  now  enjoyed  by 
the  present  population, 
even  at  a  more  wasteful 
and  lavish  mode  of  subsist¬ 
ence  than  is  nowpractised.. 


Wages  of  mechanics  in  Massachusetts  having  been  twenty-five  per  cent,  more  in  1885  than  in  i860, 
while  the  purchasing  power  of  money  was  twenty-six  per  cent,  greater,  the  workman  could  either  raise- 
his  standard  of  living,  or  on  the  same  scandard  could  save  one  third  of  his  wages. 

In  a  subsequent  chapter  reprinted  under  the  title  of  “  Low  Prices,  High  Wages,  Small  Profits — 
What  Makes  Them  ?  ” — comparisons  are  given  class  by  class,  compiled  from  more  adequate  data,  more: 
than  sustaining  the  combined  effect  of  the  lower  prices  and  of  wages  both  higher  in  rate  and  in  pur¬ 
chasing  power  upon  the  welfare  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people. 


The  Relative  Strength  and  Weakness  of  Nations.  73 


XIII. 

Deposits  in  the  Savings-Banks  of  Massachusetts. 


1865. 

1866. 

1867. 

1868. 


In  tables  subsequent  to  the  first  I  have  given  the  statistics  of  the 
increase  of  cotton,  of  the  railway  mileage,  and  of  the  products  which 
lie  at  the  foundation  of  all  material  welfare. 

The  tables  printed  in  connection  with  this  article  give  conclusive 
testimony  to  the  enormous  growth  in  wealth  of  the  United  States  since 
the  end  or  even  during  the  civil  war.  It  is  admitted,  however,  that 
growth  in  wealth  may  not  be  synonymous  with  growth  in  general  wel¬ 
fare.  Absolute  proof  of  the  latter,  statistical  especially,  is  a  matter  of 
great  difficulty  to  the  economist  and  the  statistician.  .  For  the  present 
I  can  only  refer  to  the  following  table  No.  XIII.,  in  which  the  increase 
of  deposits  in  the  savings-banks  of  Massachusetts  is  given,  and  also  the 
increase  in  the  purchasing  power  of  a  dollar,  as  shown  in  table  XII. 
This  subject  will  be  treated  more  at  length  in  a  future  article. 

In  the  judgment  of  the  Commissioner  of  Savings-Banks,  and  of  many 
others  who  are  competent  to  form  an  opinion,  at  least  three  fourths  of 
the  present  deposits  in  these  banks  belong  to  those  who  are  strictly  of 
the  working  classes, 
in  the  limited  sense  in 
which  those  whose 
daily  work  is  neces¬ 
sary  to  their  daily 
bread  make  use  of 
that  term.  This  sys¬ 
tem  of  savings-banks, 
managed  by  unpaid 
trustees  without  ex¬ 
pectation  of  personal 
profit  to  any  stock¬ 
holder  or  individual, 
or  to  any  one  except 
the  depositors  and  the 
relatively  small  exec¬ 
utive  force  required, 
is  practically  limited 
to  New  England  and 
the  Middle  States. 

The  total  sum  on  de¬ 
posit  in  all  those 
States  is  now  com¬ 
puted  at  $1,100,000,- 
000,  at  an  average  of 
$356  to  each  deposi¬ 
tor. 

If  the  system  were 


59,936,482 
67,732,264 
80,431,583 
94-838,336 

1869.  .112,119,016 

1870.  .135-745-097 

1871.  .163,704,077 

1872.  .184,797,313 

1873.  -202,195,343 

1874.  .217,452,120 

1875.  .237,848,963 

1876.  .243,342,642 

1877.  .244,596,614 

1878.  .209  860,631 

1879.  -206,378,709 

1880.  .218,047,922 

1881.  .230,444,479 

1882.  .241,311,362 

1883.  .252,607,593 

1884.  .262,720,146 

1885.  .274,998,412 


Population,  1865 . 1,267.329 

Number  of  deposit  accounts . 291,488 

Average  deposit,  each  account .  $205.62 

Average  deposit  per  head  of  population .  $47.29 

Population,  1885 . 1,941,465 

Number  of  deposit  accounts .  848,787 

Average  deposit,  each  account . $233.99 

Average  deposit  per  head  of  population .  $141.64 

If  the  savings-bank  deposit  of  the  whole  population  of  the  United 
States  were  now  equal  per  capita  to  that  of  Massachusetts,  the  sum  of 
such  deposits  would  be  over  $8,400,000,000. 


74 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


extended  throughout  the  country,  and  the  deposit  per  capita  of  the  peo¬ 
ple  of  the  United  States  were  equal  to  that  of  Massachusetts,  the  total 
sum  would  amount  to  somewhat  over  $8,400,000,000. 

Another  fact  may  be  cited  which  fairly  sustains  the  general  state¬ 
ment  that  those  who  do  the  actual  work  of  production  are  now  secur¬ 
ing  to  their  own  use  a  larger  share  than  ever  before  of  the  joint  product 
of  labor  and  capital. 

The  earning  power  of  $100  in  gold  coin  invested  in  United  States 
bonds  of  the  bes.t  class  was,  at  the  highest  point  of  paper-money  infla¬ 
tion  in  1864,  i6t6o6o  per  cent,  per  year.  At  the  present  time  the  earn¬ 
ing  power  of  $100  in  gold  goin  invested  in  4^  per  cent.  United  States 
bonds  is  only  2T2¥°o  per  cent,  per  year.1 

While  the  power  of  capital  to  secure  income  merely  as  capital  has 
thus  been  diminished,  the  wages  of  by  far  the  larger  part  of  all  the  me¬ 
chanics,  operatives,  domestic  servants,  and  the  like,  are  now  as  high  or 
higher  in  gold  coin  than  they  were  in  paper  money  at  the  highest  point 
which  wages  or  earnings  reached  in  the  paper-money  inflation  period 
of  1864  to  1867.  See  table  XII. 

By  the  use  of  this  extremely  valuable  table  of  the  prices  of  200 
commodities,  constituting  almost  every  thing  necessary  to  subsistence, 
compiled  by  Mr.  Wm.  M.  Grosvenor,  of  New  York,  it  appears  that  if  the 
purchasing  power  of  one  dollar  in  gold  coin,  on  May  1,  i860,  be  taken  as 
the  standard,  or  one  hundred  cents’  worth,  the  corresponding  purchasing 
power  of  one  dollar  of  lawful  money  on  May  1,  1865,  at  a  period  of  great 
paper  inflation,  was  56T8y4Q-  cents’  worth  of  the  same  commodities.  On 
May  1, 1872,  in  the  year  preceding  the  financial  collapse  of  1873,  the  pur¬ 
chasing  power  of  a  paper  dollar  was  less  than  seventy-five  cents’  worth. 

At  the  present  time,  and  at  present  prices,  the  gold  dollar  will  buy 
twenty-six  per  cent,  more  than  in  i860.  That  is  to  say,  wages  are  now 
as  high  or  higher  than  they  were  from  1865  to  1872  in  paper,  and  much 
higher  than  they  were  in  i860  in  gold  :  they  are  now  paid  in  gold  coin 
or  its  equivalent.  This  gold  coin  will  buy  the  commodities  which  are 
necessary  to  subsistence,  in  the  ratio  of  126  units  now  relatively  to  75 
units  in  1872,  and  to  57J  units  in  1865,  or  to  100  units  in  i860.  Wages 
have  increased  absolutely  and  relatively,  while  profits  have  decreased 
relatively  in  much  greater  proportion. 

It  is  made  apparent  that  the  increased  abundance  derived  from  our 
fields,  forests,  factories,  and  mines  must  have  been  mostly  consumed 
by  those  who  performed  the  actual  work,  or  who  belonged  to  the 

1  The  fact  that  the  city  of  New  York  has,  during  the  present  year  1889,  negotiated 
a  loan  for  park  purposes,  on  untaxable  bonds,  payable  in  forty  but  redeemable  after 
twenty  years,  at  two  and  one  half  per  cent,  per  annum,  the  loan  having  been  placed  at  a 
fraction  above  par,  may  go  far  to  prove  that  capital  is  now  accumulating  in  this 
country  even  faster  than  the  general  intelligence  of  the  people,  which  is  necessary  to  its 
productive  use. 


The  Relative  Strength  and  Weakness  of  Nations.  75 

working  classes  in  the  sense  in  which  those  who  work  for  wages  for 
small  salaries  or  on  small  farms  choose  to  construe  that  term,  because 
they  constitute  so  large  a  proportion — substantially  about  ninety  per  cent. 
— of  the  whole  number  of  persons  by  whom  such  products  are  consumed. 

The  greatest  increased  production  has  been  in  substances  which  are 
mainly  used  by  the  masses  of  the  people.  Articles  of  food  necessary 
to  life  have  increased  more  than  the  luxuries  consumed  by  the  rich. 
Hence  no  other  evidence  is  needed  to  prove  that  the  working  men  and 
women,  in  the  strictest  meaning  of  those  words,  are,  decade  by  decade, 
securing  to  their  own  use  and*  enjoyment  an  increasing  share  of  a 
steadily  increasing  product. 

The  labor  question,  as  it  is  called,  therefore  consists  in  determining 
the  conditions  of  the  distribution  of  that  greater  proportion  which  is 
consumed  by  those  who  do  the  physical  work  of  production.  Invention 
creates  opportunity  for  skill,  and  hence  skilled  workmen  who  do  not 
bind  themselves  to  work  at  the  same  rates  of  wages  as  those  who  are 
less  skilful  and  less  industrious,  are  steadily  rising,  so  that  there  may 
now  be  greater  disparity  between  the  conditions  of  skilled  and  common 
laborers  than  ever  before. 

While  the  great  products  of  the  United  States  have  thus  increased, 
in  the  same  period  the  burden  of  the  public  debt  of  the  nation  has 
been  steadily  reduced.  The  books  of  the  Treasury  never  showed  the 
maximum  debt  ;  but  in  his  last  report  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
the  Honorable  Hugh  McCulloch  added  the  debt  which  was  due  August 
1,  1865,  but  which  had  not  been  audited  and  entered,  to  the  debt  then 
recorded,  showing  that  the  maximum  debt  was  but  a  fraction  under 
$3,000,000,000. 

Our  ability  to  reestablish  the  specie  standard  of  value  has  rested 
mainly  upon  our  power  to  produce  a  great  excess  of  food,  cotton,  oil 
and  other  commodities,  which  we  have  been  able  to  export  in  exchange 
for  our  foreign  purchases,  while  retaining  our  production  of  gold  and 
adding  thereto  in  the  full  measure  necessary  for  our  purpose. 

A  review  of  the  traffic  of  the  last  five  years  will  show  the  relative 
importance  of  our  foreign  commerce. 

In  the  five  fiscal  years  ending  June  30,  1881  to  1885,  inclusive, 
the  exports  of  domestic  products,  consisting  in  much  the  greater 
proportion  of  the  products  of  agriculture,  have  been  valued  at  the 
port  of  export  at  $3,873,057,515,  an  average  of  $774,611,503  each 
year. 

At  the  average  of  $200  worth  of  product  per  capita  of  the  popu¬ 
lation,  or  at  $600  worth  of  product  to  each  person  occupied  in  gainful 
work,  mental,  mechanical,  manufacturing,  or  distributive,  this  export 
represents  the  result  of  the  work  of  1,129,019  farmers,  mechanics, 
factory  operatives,  railway  employees,  merchants,  and  others,  in  each 


76 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


year.  So  large  a  part  of  these  exports,  however,  consisted  of  cotton 
and  other  farm  products,  that  the  average  of  $600  product  per  man  is 
too  high  ;  $500  per  hand  would  be  a  large  estimate,  at  which  rate  our 
average  export  for  five  years  would  represent  the  product  of  1,549,223 
persons,  and  even  that  estimate  is  probably  too  small.  Except  for 
this  foreign  demand  for  the  excess  of  our  food,  of  our  cotton,  of  our 
oil,  of  our  dairy  products,  and  the  like,  they  might  have  rotted  upon 
the  field  or  remained  unused  because  they  were  the  excess  over  our 
own  lavish  and  wasteful  consumption. 

In  exchange  for  these  products  of  our  own  fields,  mines,  and  fac¬ 
tories,  we  have  imported  $3,3 14,818,061  worth  of  the  necessaries, 
comforts,  and  luxuries  of  life  ;  the  balance  of  the  traffic,  including  the 
profits  of  our  export  trade,  having  come  back  to  us  almost  wholly  in 
gold  coin  or  bullion. 

Possessing,  as  we  do,  an  almost  paramount  control  of  the  most 
available  supply  of  food  and  cotton,  which  Europe  must  have  or  starve, 
we  hold  a  demand  check  upon  every  bank  in  Europe  for  the  coin  or 
bullion  on  which  we  maintain  the  specie  standard  of  value,  which  is 
so  essential  to  prosperity. 

The  commodities  imported  in  the  five  fiscal  years  ending  June  30, 
1881  to  1885,  inclusive,  have  been  classified  in  the  National  Bureau  of 
Statistics  as  follows  : 


A.  Articles  of  food  and  live  animals . $1,079,869,829.00 

B.  Articles  in  a  crude  condition  which  enter  into  the  processes  of 

domestic  industry . .  720,826,681.00 

C.  Articles  wholly  or  partially  manufactured,  for  use  as  materials  in 

manufacturing  and  mechanic  arts .  390,102,678.00 


$2,190,799,188.00 


D.  Articles  manufactured  ready  for  consumption .  $718,300,081.00 

E.  Articles  of  voluntary  use,  luxuries,  etc .  405,718,792.00 


$1,124,018,873.00 
Total . 3,314,818,061.00 

Free  of  duty . $1,024,385,175.00' 

Subject  to  duty .  2,290,432,886.00 

Duties  paid  thereon .  986,002,925.00 

Export  per  capita . $17.52 

Imports  “  “  . . ' .  15*04 


Except  for  this  export  our  excess  of  grain  and  cotton  could  have 
little  or  no  present  use,  and  therefore  no  value  ;  what  we  import  we 
could  not  pay  for  except  with  grain,  cotton,  oil,  etc.  The  whole  value 
of  our  imports,  therefore,  becomes  the  secondary  product  of  our  own 
labor,  and  the  sum  of  such  imports  is  so  much  added  to  the  fund  from 
which  wages,  profits,  and  taxes  are  alike  derived. 

In  the  use  of  the  imports  which  enter  into  the  processes  of  our 


The  Relative  Strength  and  Weakness  of  Nations.  77 


domestic  industry  and  are  thereby  converted  into  domestic  manu¬ 
factures,  another  great  body  of  industrious  working  men  and  women 
have  been  occupied. 

Although  the  domestic  commerce  of  this  and  of  every  other  civilized 
nation  is  vastly  greater  in  volume  and  value  than  its  foreign  com¬ 
merce,  yet  the  latter  serves  as  a  balance-wheel  to  the  whole.  The 
interdependence  of  nations  thus  asserts  itself :  the  wider  the  com¬ 
merce  or  mutual  service,  the  greater  the  result  of  the  labor  applied, 
the  lower  the  proportionate  cost,  and  the  higher  the  rates  both  of 
profits  and  wages,  which  are  alike  derived  from  the  final  sale  of  all 
products,  whether  the  money  distributed  comes  from  the  sale  of  the 
primary  products  of  strictly  domestic  industry  or  from  the  secondary 
products  imported  in  exchange  for  the  excess  of  the  first. 

Thus  far  it  has  been  easy  to  prove  the  enormous  growth  of  the 
productive  power  and  wealth  in  this  country.  We  have  gained  in 
“  number  of  people,  in  supplies  and  resources,  in  the  necessaries  and 
conveniences  of  life  ”  ;  have  we  made  equal  progress  “  in  good  laws, 
good  public  officers,  in  virtuous  citizens,  in  strength  and  concord, 
in  wisdom,  in  justice,  in  wise  counsels,  and  manly  force  ”  ?  If  we  have 
not,  then 

“  Of  what  avail  the  plough  and  sail, 

Or  land  or  life,  if  freedom  fail?” 


May  not  this  vast  gain  in  the  conditions  of  material  welfare  in 
the  United  States  be  mainly  attributed  to  the  following  elements  in 
our  national  life  ? 

First.  The  free  purchase  and  sale  of  land,  and  the  stability  which 
ensues  from  the  fact  that  so  large  and  constantly  increasing  proportion 
of  the  people  actually  possess  land. 

Second.  Absolute  freedom  of  exchange  among  the  several  States. 

Third.  The  system  of  common  schools  which  is  now  extending 
throughout  the  land. 

Fourth.  The  protection  which  the  possession  of  the  right  to  vote 
gives  to  the  humblest  citizen,  both  white  and  black. 

Fifth.  Local  self-government  in  the  strictest  sense,  in  the  manage¬ 
ment  of  local  affairs. 

Sixth.  General  laws  in  most  of  the  States  enabling  cities  and  towns 
to  provide  water  and  sewage  without  special  acts  of  legislation,  and  also 
enabling  corporations  to  be  formed  for  the  construction  of  railways, 
so  that  no  monopoly  of  the  mechanism  of  exchange  can  exist. 

Seve?ith.  The  habit  of  combination  and  organization  engendered 
by  long  practice,  to  the  end  that  if  any  thousand  persons,  with  perhaps 
the  present  exception  of  the  lately  enfranchised  blacks,  were  suddenly 
removed  to  some  far  distant  place,  away  from  their  fellow-men,  the 


73 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation 


men  of  adult  age  would  immediately  organize  an  open  meeting,  choose 
a  moderator,  supervisor,  or  mayor,  elect  a  board  of  selectmen,  of 


THE  PRICE  OF  LIBERTY.— THE  PUBLIC  DEBT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Per  Cap. 


i860  ....  July  1  .  .  . 

1. 91 

1861 _  11 

2.74 

1862 _  “ 

.  .  505,312,752 

15-45 

1863  ....  “  ... 

•  1,  in,  35°,  737 

33-31 

1864 _  “ 

•  1,709,452,277 

50.21 

1865 -  “  ... 

.  2,674,815,856 

76.98 

1865  1  .  .  .  Aug.  31  .  . 

•  2,997,386,203 

84.00 

1866  ....  July  1  .  .  . 

.  2,636,036,163 

74-32 

1867  ....  “ 

69.26 

1868  ....  “ 

.  2,480,853,413 

67.10 

1869 _  “ 

•  2,432,771,873 

64.43 

w 

00 

'O 

0 

.  2,331,169,956 

60.46 

H 

00 

H 

56.81 

N 

00 

H 

52.96 

1873  ....  “  ... 

50-52 

1874 -  “  ... 

.  2,104,149,153 

49.17 

1875  ....  “  ... 

47-56 

1876  ....  11  ... 

.  2,060,925,340 

45-66 

M 

00 

^4 

•  2,019,275,431 

43-56 

00 

t>s 

00 

H 

42.01 

1879  ....  “  ... 

.  1,996,414,905 

40.86 

1880 _  “ 

38.27 

1881 _  “ 

35-36 

1882 _  11 

.  1,675,023,474 

31.72 

1883 _  “ 

28.41 

1884 _  “ 

•  1,438.542,995 

25.80 

1885  ....  “ 

•  1,375,352,443 

24.09 

1886  ....  Oct.  1  .  .  . 

23.00 

1886  2  .  .  .  “ 

•  1,274,728,153 

21.60 

Reduction,  debt  per  capita. 


At  the  date  when 
this  treatise  is  being 
proposed  for  repub¬ 
lication  the  net  debt 

—  of  the  United  States 
of  all  kinds,  includ¬ 
ing  the  bonds  ad- 

—  vanced  to  the  Pacific 
Railroad,  is  less 

,  than  $x,ioo,ooo,ooo. 

On  the  ist  July, 
1889,  a  further  re¬ 
duction  will  have 
been  made,  and, 
omitting  the  bonds 
advanced  to  the  Pacific 
Railroad,  the  net  debt  will 
be  a  little  less  than  $1 ,000,- 
000, 000, and  the  population 
will  then  be  63,000,000, 
giving  a  ratio  of  debt  to 
population  of  less  than 
$16  per  head — a  reduction 
of  seventy-five  per  cent, 
since  Aug.  1,  1865. 

It  now  seems  probable 
that  as  the  people  have 
not  yet  decided  in  what 
manner  the  national  rev- 


1  Debt  audited  and  en¬ 
tered  on  the  31st  of 
August,  1865,  being 
the  highest  record  . 

Added  for  debt  due  but 
not  then  audited 


$2,756,431,571 

240,954,632 


Total  ....  $2,997,386,203 

2  According  to  the  old  form,  corresponding  to  the  form  in  use  1865-85  inclusive,  which  does  not 
include  the  bonds  advanced  to  the  Pacific  Railroad  Company  to  be  paid  by  them.  The  first  statement 
for  October  1,  1886,  includes  these  bonds  and  excludes  the  value  of  subsidiary  silver  coin  from  assets. 


The  Relative  Strength  and  Weakness  of  Nations.  79 


assessors  of  taxes,  and  a  school  committee,  appoint  one  or  two  con¬ 
stables,  and  then,  adopting  the  principle  of  the  English  common  law, 
would  at  once  undertake  their  customary  gainful  occupations. 

These  factors  in  the  life  of  a  free  people  are  not  named  in  the 
order  of  their  relative  importance,  but  are  given  in  a  list,  each  relative 
to  the  other,  and,  as  a  whole,  composing  the  main  elements  of  our 
social  organism. 

There  may  be  a  fallacy  in  the  old  democratic  dogma  that  “  the 
government  is  best  which  governs  least,”  but  there  is  no  fallacy  when 
it  is  put  in  another  form  :  That  country  will  prosper  most  which 
requires  least  from  its  government,  and  in  which  the  people,  after 
having  chosen  their  officers,  straightway  proceed  to  govern  themselves 
according  to  their  common  habit. 

In  the  conclusion  of  this  branch  of  the  study  of  the  facts  and  figures 
of  this  country,  may  it  not  be  held  that  the  alternate  periods  of 
activity  and  depression  which  have  affected  the  industries  of  this 
country  since  the  end  of  the  civil  war,  have  been  mere  fluctuations  or 
ebbs  and  flows  in  the  great  rising  tide  of  material  progress,  ending  in 
an  adjustment  to  ever  new  and  better  conditions  of  life  ?  Is  it  not  true 
that  while  the  rich  may  have  become  relatively  no  poorer,  the  poor 
have  been  steadily  growing  richer,  not  so  much  in  the  accumulation  of 
personal  wealth  as  in  the  power  of  commanding  the  service  of  capital 
in  ever-increasing  measure  at  a  less  proportionate  charge  ?  Can  it  be 
denied  that  labor  as  distinguished  from  capital  has  been  and  is  secu¬ 
ring  to  its  own  use  an  increasing  share  of  an  increasing  product,  or  its 
equivalent  in  money  ? 

enue  is  to  be  reduced,  and  since  the  Congress,  which  will  hold  its  first  session  in  1889,  will  probably  prove 
to  be  wholly  incapable  of  dealing  with  the  question,  the  excess  of  revenue  above  authorized  expendi¬ 
ture  may  go  on  at  the  rate  of  about  two  dollars  per  capita  for  about  four  years  more,  in  which  period, 
under  such  conditions,  the  debt  will  be  reduced  to  a  fraction  over  $500,000,000,  and  may  be  wholly  paid 
in  one  generation  from  the  date  when  it  reached  the  maximum. 

The  cost,  measured  in  money,  of  removing  the  compromise  with  slavery  from  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  was  as  follows  : 

The  national  revenue  collected  from  April  1,  1861,  to  June  30,  1868 — four  years  of  war  and  three 
of  reconstruction  under  military  rule — was  : 


From  taxation  and  miscellaneous  receipts  ........  $2,213,349,486 

From  loans  which  had  not  been  paid  June  30,  1868  ......  2,485,000,000 

Total  ............  $4,698,349,486 

The  peace  expenditure  would  not  have  been  over  ......  698,349,486 

Cost  of  the  war  ..........  $4,000,000,000 


To  the  computed  cost  of  the  war — $4,000,000,000 — must  be  added  by  estimate  the  war  expenditures 
of  the  Northern  States  and  the  value  of  the  time,  materials,  and  destruction  of  property  in  the  South¬ 
ern  States,  together  probably  amounting  to  a  sum  equal  to  that  spent  by  the  National  Government. 

The  price  of  Liberty  in  money  has  therefore  been  $8,000,000,000. 

This  comes  to  $1,135,000,000  per  year  for  a  little  over  seven  years.  The  productive  capacity  of  an 
average  man  is  now  about  $600  worth  per  year.  If  it  was  then  $500  worth,  this  sum  represents  the 
work  of  2,270,000  men  for  seven  years  ;  at  $400  each,  2,837,500  men. 

The  average  population  during  this  period  was  35,000,000.  If  we  assume  one  in  five  an  adult  man 
capable  of  bearing  arms,  there  were  7,000,000,  of  whom  one  third  paid  the  price  of  liberty  in  work  for 
seven  years,  or  in  life. 

In  an  address  given  in  Georgia  a  few  years  since,  the  writer  ventured  to  predict  that  a  time  would 
come  when  the  children  of  Confederate  soldiers  would  erect  a  monument  to  John  Brown  in  commemo¬ 
ration  of  the  liberty  which  he  brought  to  the  white  men  as  well  as  to  the  black  men  of  the  South.  Has 
it  not  come  ? 


THE  RELATIVE  STRENGTH  AND  WEAKNESS  OF 

NATIONS.1 

TWO  STUDIES  IN  THE  APPLICATION  OF  STATISTICS  TO  SOCIAL 

SCIENCE. 


II.  WEAKNESS. 


HAVING  analyzed  the  strength  of  Democracy  in  America  we 
may  now  turn  our  attention  to  the  other  side,  and  consider 
the  sources  of  the  weakness  of  nations  which  are  governed 
by  dynasties. 


NATIONAL  DEBTS— PER  CAPITA. 


1  July,  1889.  Less  than  $16. 

2  July,  1889.  Less  than  $20. 

It  may  be  claimed  that  the  debts  of  the  several  States 
constituting  the  United  States  should  be  added  to  the 
national  debt. 

In  1880  the  total  amount  of  such  debts  was  $226,597,594, 
since  which  date  they  have  been  diminished  by  large  pay¬ 
ments  in  many  States.  The  present  debt  of  all  the  States 
is  not  in  excess  of  $4.00  per  capita  of  the  whole  population. 

The  data  for  computing  department,  county,  city,  town, 
and  communal  debts  are  not  within  the  reach  of  the 
writer  ;  but  as  these  debts  have  been  mostly  incurred  for 
public  improvements,  both  in  Europe  and  in  this  country, 
they  do  not  come  into  the  same  category — debts  of  nations 
mainly  incurred  in  war  or  in  preparation  for  war. 

3  It  should  be  stated  that  a  considerable  part  of  the 
debt  of  Germany  and  Belgium  and  a  small  part  of  that  of 
France,  was  incurred  in  the  construction  of  railroads,  but 
most  of  these  railroads  have  been  constructed  for  military 
purposes. 


In  Professor  J.  R.  See- 
lye’s  recent  book  upon  the 
expansion  of  Engand,  he  has 
traced  nearly  all  the  Europe¬ 
an  wars  of  recent  times  to  the 
struggle  of  nations  for  do¬ 
minion  over  other  continents 
or  parts  of  continents,  in  or¬ 
der  to  establish  colonies  and 
to  control  commerce  there¬ 
with  ;  commerce  itself  hav¬ 
ing  been  regarded  by  almost 
all  nations,  and  being  now 
regarded  by  the  greater  num¬ 
ber,  as  a  quasi  war  in  which 
what  one  nation  gains  an¬ 
other  must  lose. 

This  fallacy  has  led  to 
very  many  of  the  great  actual 
wars  of  the  last  century  and 
a  half,  and  the  vast  national 
debts  of  Europe  have  been 
incurred  in  this  futile  and 
foolish  attempt  to  set  up  as 
a  rule  among  nations  : 

‘  ‘  Let  him  take  who  has  the  power, 
And  let  him  keep  who  can.” 


1  Reprinted  with  additions  from  The  Century  Magazine  for  February,  1887. 


80 


The  Relative  Strength  and  Weakness  of  Nations.  8 1 


The  business  man  who  fully  comprehends  the  function  of  the  mer¬ 
chant  and  of  the  manufacturer,  and  the  place  which  commerce  holds 
in  the  beneficent  progress  of  the  world,  may  well  covet  the  genius  of 
Southey  in  order  that  he  might  add  new  verses  to  the  “  Devil’s  Walk  ” 
as  he  passes  in  review  the  great  wars  which  have  been  fought  to  gain 
the  control  of  commerce  which  could  have  been  had  for  the  asking, 
and  which  would  then  have  yielded  a  vastly  greater  benefit  to  both 
parties  than  either  could  gain  by  attempting  to  get  an  advantage  over 
the  other. 

What  more  fruitful  subject  for  the  satirist  than  the  bluster  of  the 
party  politician  at  the  present  time,  whose  zeal  is  apparently  in  inverse 
proportion  to  his  sincerity,  in  regard  to  the  respective  claims  of  this 
country  and  of  Canada  over  the  right  to  fish  within  a  certain  distance 
from  the  coast,  when  it  would  benefit  both  countries  to  put  the  regula¬ 
tion  of  all  the  fisheries  under  a  joint  control,  so  that  both  might  be 
far  better  served  with  fish  than  either  can  now  be  ? 1 

What  greater  economic  blunder  has  ever  been  committed  than  the 
support  of  slavery  in  this  country  for  nearly  a  century  of  its  history  ? 
It  was  the  most  costly  and  least  productive  system  of  labor,  brutalizing 
to  the  black  man  and  debasing  to  the  white  man  ;  yet  it  was  justified 

1  Since  this  article  was  written,  the  fishery  treaty  negotiated  by  the  late  adminis¬ 
tration  of  President  Cleveland,  under  the  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  Thomas 
F.  Bayard,  has  failed  of  ratification  in  a  Senate  controlled  by  the  opposition  party.  A 
more  discreditable  debate  may  never  have  occurred  in  the  history  of  this  country.  In 
it  the  true  point  at  issue  was  obscured  by  a  mass  of  historic  rubbish  and  misrepresenta¬ 
tion,  especially  on  the  part  of  New  England.  If  salt  cod  and  smoked  herring  were  not 
taxed  in  the  sum  of  $350,000  to  $400,000  when  imported  from  Canada,  there  would  be 
no  cause  of  dispute  on  the  so-called  fishery  question.  This  tax  is  imposed  upon  a 
necessary  article  of  food  at  the  instance  of  the  owners  of  fishing  vessels,  on  the  pre¬ 
tence  that  American  seamen  are  trained  for  the  navy  in  sailing  these  vessels — the  fact 
being  that  at  least  three  fourths  of  those  who  man  the  fishermen  are  foreigners,  mostly 
natives  of  the  maritime  provinces  of  Canada.  When  the  record  of  history  i$  made  in 
regard  to  this  matter,  it  may  be  written  that  a  cause  of  quarrel  with  Canada  was  main¬ 
tained  for  many  years  in  order  to  collect  a  tax  on  a  necessary  article  of  food,  which 
cost  more  for  the  administration  of  the  customs  service,  the  naval  protection  of  the 
fishermen,  and  in  the  waste  of  time  in  the  discussion  in  Congress,  than  the  whole  rev¬ 
enue  derived  from  the  tax.  This  tax  was  supported  by  the  votes  of  those  who  were 
induced  to  pervert  a  public  trust  to  purposes  of  private  gain  through  false  representa¬ 
tions  made  to  legislators  whose  integrity  can  only  be  justified  at  the  cost  of  their  intel¬ 
lectual  capacity  to  comprehend  the  true  limits  of  public  taxation.  A  tax  which  could 
not  be  justified  for  purposes  of  revenue,  and  which  failed  even  in  its  ostensible  object  of 
giving  more  employment  to  American  seamen  in  the  fishing  vessels,  could  therefore  only 
have  been  maintained  by  a  great  and  powerful  nation  out  of  petty  jealousy  and  pusil¬ 
lanimous  fear  lest  the  progress  of  our  poorer  neighbors,  in  their  attempt  to  serve  us 
while  gaining  a  living  in  an  arduous  and  dangerous  calling,  should  harm  us  in  some 
way  which  no  Senator  proved  to  be  capable  of  defining  in  the  whole  progress  of  the 
debate  on  the  treaty. 

6 


82 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


by  men  of  such  intelligence  and  force  that  had  it  not  been  for  the 
narrowing  influence  and  the  bitter  apparent  necessity  imposed  upon 
them  to  sustain  a  crime  against  humanity,  they  might  have  left  a  repu¬ 
tation  as  statesmen. 

What  more  ludicrous  commentary  upon  the  intellectual  mediocrity 
of  legislators  than  the  demand  lately  presented  in  Congress  by  the 
representatives  of  one  of  the  New  England  States  for  a  heavier  duty 
upon  sugar  when  imported  in  bags  rather  than  in  boxes,  in  order  that 
the  Cuban  planters  might  be  compelled  to  buy  the  decreasing  timber 
supply  of  the  forests  of  Maine  in  the  form  of  sugar-boxes,  and  charge 
it  back  to  all  consumers  of  sugar  in  this  country  as  a  part  of  the  cost 
of  imported  sugar. 

Could  there  be  a  more  complete  reductio  ad  absurdum  than  the  con¬ 
clusion  to  which  the  late  Henry  C.  Carey  was  led  by  his  lack  of  true 
insight  in  respect  to  the  functions  of  commerce,  namely,  “  that  the 
material  prosperity  of  this  country  would  be  more  fully  promoted  by  a 
ten-years’  war  with  Great  Britain  than  it  could  be  in  any  other  way”  ? 
(I  quote  this  from  memory  ;  the  statement  was  made  in  a  conversa¬ 
tion  to  which  I  listened.) 

Yet  out  of  this  very  jealousy  of  nations  we  gained  almost  without 
cost  one  of  our  most  important  possessions. 

One  of  the  most  singular  of  the  incidents  of  one  of  these  great 
European  contests  was  the  sale  of  the  Louisiana  territory  to  this  coun¬ 
try  by  the  First  Napoleon,  who,  being  unable  to  keep  it,  chose  that 
England  should  not  possess  it.  In  a  few  short  weeks  this  territory 
might  have  come  under  the  dominion  of  England.  One’s  imagination 
can  hardly  grasp  the  changed  conditions  of  the  world  as  they  would 
have  been  had  Great  Britain  succeeded  in  getting  and  keeping  the  con¬ 
trol  of  all  that  vast  territory  west  of  the  Mississippi  River  which  was 
comprised  in  this  purchase,  thus  confining  the  United  States  substan¬ 
tially  to  what  lies  east  of  this  mighty  river. 

It  is  a  singular  fact  that  there  appears  to  be  no  historical  school 
atlas  in  use  in  this  country  in  which  the  several  additions  to  the  terri¬ 
tory  of  the  United  States  are  pictured  and  described  ;  hence  very  few 
persons  realize  the  vast  importance  and  extent  of  the  Louisiana  pur¬ 
chase,  or  know  the  true  conditions  of  the  great  contest  with  the  slave 
power  over  the  extension  of  slavery  into  what  was  known  in  1830  as 
the  Territory  of  Missouri,  which  comprised  a  vast  area  outside  the 
limits  of  the  present  State  of  Missouri. 

While  modern  European  wars  have  thus  become  a  struggle  for  the 
control  of  commerce,  or  for  the  control  of  vast  areas  of  territory  in  the 
attempt  to  secure  its  commercet  o  single  states,  war  itself  has  also  been 
mainly  sustained  by  what  may  be  called  commercial  methods — that  is 
to  say,  the  rulers  of  nations  have  made  use  of  bankers,  through  whom 


The  Relative  Strength  and  Weakness  of  Nations.  83 


they  have  pledged  the  national  credit  in  order  to  support  dynasties  or 
to  secure  power  to  them.  Even  success  in  war  has  in  later  years  de¬ 
pended  as  much  upon  the  commissariat,  or  upon  the  business  depart¬ 
ment  of  war,  as  upon  the  actual  battles,  or  even  more. 

This  possibility  of  mortgaging  the  future  by  incurring  a  national 
debt  has  finally  become  the  chief  cause  of  the  weakness  of  nations. 
The  same  century  that  has  witnessed  the  increase  of  European  national 
debts  from  a  little  over  $2,600,000,000  to  more  than  $22,000,000,000 
has  also  seen  Spain,  Portugal,  Austria,  and  Greece  become  bankrupt, 
while  Russia  is  without  credit.  The  attempt  to  enforce  the  payment 
of  the  bonded  debt  of  Egypt  by  the  force  of  armies  at  the  instance  of 
foreign  creditors  may  be  held  to  be  a  disgrace  to  the  nations  that  have 
engaged  in  the  undertaking.  The  debt  was  incurred  without  the  con¬ 
sent  of  the  people,  and  even  the  interest  cannot  now  be  met  without 
taking  so  large  a  share  of  the  meagre  product  of  the  fellaheen  as  almost 
to  reduce  them  to  starvation. 

Before  the  century  ends  we  may  even  witness  a  general  repudiation 
of  these  national  mortgag¬ 
es,  which  the  dynasties  of  relative  burden  of  national  taxation 

the  past  have  imposed 
upon  the  people  of  the 
present  without  their  con¬ 
sent,  and  in  almost  all 
cases  to  their  injury  rather 
than  to  their  benefit. 

In  order  that  the  rela¬ 
tive  weakness  of  Europe 
caused  by  the  burden  of 
debts  and  of  standing  ar¬ 
mies  may  be  fully  com¬ 
prehended,  the  following 
statements  are  submitted  : 

The  debt  of  the  United 
States  at  its  highest  point, 
in  1865,  was  eighty-four 
dollars  per  head,  which  is 
now  the  average  debt  of 
the  commercial  and  man¬ 
ufacturing  states  of  Eu¬ 
rope  specifically  named 
in  the  ensuing  statement. 

The  debt  of  the  United 
States  is  now  less  than 
twenty-three  dollars  per 


Per  capita  of  the  principal  commercial  or  manufacturing  states 
of  Europe  which  are  solvent,  and  of  the  United  States  (omit¬ 
ting  local  taxation  for  departments,  counties,  cities,  or  for 
town  purposes)  : 

United  States,  not  including 
payment  upon  the  public 
debt,  less  than . $4-50 


United  States,  including 
payment  on  the  debt, 
not  over . 6.00 


Italy . 10.42 


Holland . 10.90 


Belgium . u.oo 


Great  Britain .  11.80 


Germany . 12.00 


France,  by  taxation  ....  18.00 


France,  including  annual 
deficit,  over . 19.00 


The  true  burden  of  taxation  may  not  be  measured  even  by 
the  proportion  which  the  taxes  of  one  country  bear  to  another. 
The  measure  of  importance  is  what  ratio  do  they  bear  to  the 
productive  capacity  of  each  nation  or  state,  and  for  what  are 
they  expended.  These  matters  are  treated  in  a  subsequent 
table. 


84 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


ACRES  PER  HEAD  OF  POPULATION  AND 

PER  ACRE. 

* 

United  States  (omitting 
Alaska),  acres . 32.7 


DEBT 


Great  Britain,  Germany, 
France,  Italy,  Holland, 
.  and  Belgium,  acres  .  . 


2.8 


head  (or  including  all  State  debts,  less  than  twenty-seven  dollars). 
The  national  debt — now  twenty-three  dollars — will  probably  all  be 
paid  within  one  generation  from  the  date  when  it  was  incurred.1 

In  the  consideration  of  these  various  tables  it  must  be  borne  in 

mind  that  the  annual  pro¬ 
duct  of  a  nation  or  state 
is  the  source  of  all  wages, 
taxes,  rents,  and  profits, 
and  that  by  so  much  as 
one  element  of  these 
charges  upon  the  annual 
product  is  greater  must 
some  other  element  be 
less.  No  scientific  meth¬ 
od  has  yet  been  invented 
by  which  taxes  can  be 
made  to  stay  where  they 
are  first  imposed.  As  a 
rule,  taxation  tends  to  dif¬ 
fuse  itself  over  all  con¬ 
sumption,  and  cannot  be 
drawn  in  any  large  meas¬ 
ure  from  what  would 
otherwise  be  rent  or  profit. 
Hence,  when  the  product 
is  small,  the  necessary  cor¬ 
relative  of  high  taxation 
is  a  low  rate  of  wages  or 
earnings.  Therefore,  low 
wages  in  Continental  Eu- 


National  debt  of  the 
United  States  (omitting 
Alaska)  per  acre  .  .  .  $00.73 


National  debt  of  Great 
Britain,  France,  Ger¬ 
many,  Italy,  Holland, 
and  Belgium,  per  acre,  $30.06 


The  proportion  of  men  under  arms  in  the  commercial  and 
manufacturing  states  of  Great  Britain,  France,  Germany, 
Italy,  Holland,  and  Belgium  is  2,200,431.  The  cost  of  sus¬ 
taining  these  forces  in  the  last  fiscal  year  was  $493,505,520,  or 
at  the  rate  of  $223  per  man. 

The  force  which  is  actually  under  arms,  aside  from  the  re¬ 
serves,  is  at  the  ratio  of  one  man  to  each  200  acres  ;  and  the 
annual  tax  for  his  support  averages  $1.10  per  acre. 

The  average  cost  per  man  in  the  army  and  navy  of  the 
United  States,  including  the  cost  of  ships,  fortifications,  navy- 
yards,  and  all  other  war  expenses,  is  about  $1,600  annually 
per  man.  The  ratio  is  one  man  under  arms  to  each  51,000 
acres,  and  the  annual  tax  for  his  support  and  for  all  other 
military  purposes  is  a  fraction  over  three  cents  per  acre. 


1  Since  this  computation  was  made  the  reduction  of  debt  has  continued,  and  the 
amount  of  the  national  debt  is  now  (May  1,  1889)  $1,101,605,428. 

There  are  some  compensations  even  for  political  incapacity.  The  Congress  elected 
in  1888  may  prove  more  incapable  of  dealing  with  the  subject  of  taxation  than  the  one 
whose  term  expired  March  4,  1889  ;  therefore,  the  surplus  revenue,  which  can  only  be 
expended  for  the  reduction  of  debt,  may  continue  to  fall  into  the  Treasury  in  an  in¬ 
creasing  measure.  The  actual  burden  of  taxation  by  which  the  surplus  is  collected 
would  not  be  any  great  matter,  except  for  the  bad  methods  and  inconsistent  laws  under 
which  it  is  collected. 

In  the  interval  before  the  Congress  which  will  be  elected  in  1890  is  called  upon  to 
treat  the  subject,  great  progress  will  have  been  made  in  the  education  of  the  people 
upon  the  whole  subject  of  taxation, — then  legislation  may  become  possible  under  which 
even  the  present  revenues  may  continue  to  be  collected,  but  in  such  a  way  that  the  re¬ 
mainder  of  the  debt  may  be  paid  in  a  very  short  time,  without  any  undue  interference 
with  the  freely  chosen  pursuits  of  the  people,  whether  they  engage  in  agriculture, 
manufactures,  or  commerce. 


The  Relative  Strength  and  Weakness  of  Nations,  85 

rope  give  no  evidence  of  low  cost  of  production,  but  rather  indicate  that 
the  laborer  is  deprived  of  a  large  and  undue  share  of  his  product  by 
excessive  taxation,  chiefly  for  the  destructive  purposes  of  war  or  of 


preparation  of  war. 

The  debt  of  all  Europe  in  1884  and  1885  was . $22,158,000,000 

Population .  334,000,000 

Debt  of  the  principal  solvent  and  commercial  states  of  Europe — Great 

Britain,  France,  Germany,  Netherlands,  and  Italy . $13,269,447,000 

Population  at  last  census .  157,549,817 

Debt  of  the  United  States  at  its  maximum,  August  1,  1865,  liquidated 
and  unliquidated,  as  computed  by  Hon.  Hugh  McCulloch, 

Secretary  of  Treasury .  $2,997,386,203 

Population . .. .  34,748,000 

Debt  of  the  United  States,  August  1,  1886 . . .  $1,380,087,279 

Population  as  computed  by  E.  B.  Elliott,  Actuary  of  the  Treasury, 

August  1,  1886  . .  58,670,000 


These  figures  of  almost  inconceivable  millions  convey  but  little  idea 
to  any  one  who  is  not  accustomed  to  such  comparisons  ;  it  is  only  by 
considering  them  in  relation  to  each  person  of  the  population,  that  the 
true  measure  begins  to  be  defined. 

In  the  accompanying  tables  will  be  found  statements  of  the  debt  per 
capita,  the  annual  taxation  per  capita,  the  debt  per  acre,  and  also  the 
proportion  which  the  present  standing  armies  bear  to  the  population 
and  to  the  men  of  arms-bearing  age. 

Thus  far  all  the  facts  which  have  been  given  have  been  taken  from 
the  “  Financial  Reform  Almanac  ”  of  1886,  from  the  “  Statesmen’s  Year- 
Book  ”  of  1886,  and  from  the  official  documents  of  the  United  States. 

I  may  now  enter  upon  that  part  of  my  treatise  which  rests  upon  es¬ 
timates  only.  These  estimates  must  be  accepted  for  what  they  are 
worth.  It  is  admitted  that  they  are  somewhat  hopothetical.  Are  they 
sustained  by  facts  ? 

The  true  income  of  a  nation  is  not  the  money  by  which  it  is  meas¬ 
ured  ;  it  is,  in  fact,  the  product  of  its  labor  and  capital,  consisting  of 
the  materials  for  food,  for  clothing,  for  shelter,  fuel,  metals,  and  the 
like,  converted  and  reconverted  until  ready  for  consumption.  These 
products  are  measured  in  money’s  worth  in  the  process  of  exchange, 
and  it  is  important  when  making  use  of  terms  of  money  to  carry  with 
the  measure  of  money  the  conception  of  the  quantities  of  substance 
which  money  will  buy,  or  which  are  exchanged  for  money. 

In  a  very  few  cases  certain  countries,  like  England,  possess  an 
income  from  foreign  investments  of  capital  previously  saved  ;  but  this 
is  a  very  small  element  as  compared  to  the  value  of  its  annual  product. 

In  the  following  tables  this  increase  of  income  from  foreign  invest¬ 
ments  has  been  considered  with  respect  to  the  average  value  of  the 
product  per  capita  assigned  to  England. 


86 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


UNITED  STATES, 

Compared  in  ratio,  to  the  number  of  men  of  arms-bearing  age,  assuming 


Total  armed  force . 4,123,374 

Reserves  ready  for  service  at  call . 10,398,163 

Total . 14^521,537 

Substantially  one  in  five  of  all  men  of  arms-bearing  age. 

Proportion  of  men  of  arms-bearing  age  in  the  standing  armies  and 
navies,  not  including  reserves. 


Exempts.  Proportion  to  total. 


I  have  attempted  to  establish  a  comparison  of  the  product,  per 
capita,  of  European  countries,  as  compared  to  this  country,  at  its 
measure  in  money.  The  known  factors  in  the  problem  are,  first,  the 
relative  rates  of  wages  paid  in  the  several  countries  considered,  each 
as  compared  to  the  other  ;  second,  the  relative  amount  of  national 
taxation  per  capita. 

Another  factor  which  may  be  deemed  to  be  sufficiently  well  estab¬ 
lished  for  purposes  of  comparison  is  the  value  of  the  per  capita  annual 

product  of  the  peo- 

STANDING  ARMIES  AND  NAVIES  OF  EUROPE  AND  THE  pje  Qf  tftg  United 

States,  estimated  at 

one  in  five  of  the  population  to  be  of  that  age.  tWO  hundred  dol- 

Standing  armies  of  Europe  in  actual  service . 3,854,752  lars’  Worth  to  each 

Men  in  the  navies .  268,622 

person. 

The  family  group 
in  this  country  con¬ 
sists  of  a  fraction 
over  five  persons  ; 

Exempts.  the  Proportion  who 

i5.i3  were  occupied  for 
6  so  gain  was  one  in  2.90 
in  the  census  year, 
and  may  be  comput¬ 
ed  as  one  in  three 
at  the  present  time. 
18.50  Two  hundred  dol- 
22.  lars’  worth  per  head 
24.40  would  make  the 
average  product  of 
each  person  work¬ 
ing  for  gain  six  hun¬ 
dred  dollars’  worth 
of  product  per  year. 

The  writer  has 
himself  devoted  a 
great  deal  of  exami¬ 
nation  to  this  sub¬ 
ject,  and  his  esti¬ 
mate  of  two  hundred 
dollars’  worth  per 


All  Europe . 

in 

16.13 

— 

Italy . 

tt 

7-50 

— 

Holland . 

It 

II. 

France 

tt 

Russia . 

tt 

■  Germany  .  ..... 

h  t 

A  /• 

— »  Belgium . 

ft 

1 1 

^5.40 

tt 

O.f). 

United  States . 

4  t 

322. 

10. 


12. 


16. 


25. 

321. 


Men  in  active  service  in  armies  and  navies,  omitting  reserves : 


Russia  .  . 
Italy  .  .  . 

France  .  . 

Germany  . 
Austria  .  . 

Great  Britain 
Turkey  .  . 

Spain  .  . 

Switzerland 
Holland .  . 


Reserves 


1,004,507 
.  765,820 

•  575,959 
.  462,678 

•  298,501 
.  281,746 
.  180,404 
.  116,256 
.  113,368 

77,689 


Belgium  .  46,539 
Sweden  .  43,174 
Denmark.  37,725 
Greece  .  33,187 
Portugal .  29,920 
Norway  .  22,250 
Roumania  20,572 
Servia  .  .  13,079 


4,123,374  or  1  man  in 
10,129,541 


81  of  population 


United  States. 


14,252,915  or  1 
36,294  or  1 


24 

1610 


Since  this  guarded  computation  was  made,  the  armies  of  Europe  have  been  increased,  and  it  has  been 
computed  that  one  man  in  sixteen  upon  the  continent  is  either  under  arms  or  held  subject  to  arm  at 
the  call  of  the  government.  The  actual  force  in  the  standing  armies  now  exceeds  the  number  given 
in  the  table  after  deducting  a  part  of  the  force  assigned  thereto  in  Italy  and  the  whole  of  the  armed 
freemen  of  Switzerland. 


The  Relative  Strength  and  Weakness  of  Nations.  87 


head  has  been  sustained  by  many  other  experts,  official  and  unofficial. 
Accepting  this  measure  as  approximately  true  to  the  facts,  it  is  held  that 
the  value  of  the  product,  per  capita,  of  other  countries  may  be  based  upon 
the  value  of  the  per  capita  product  of  this  country,  since  the  product 
of  other  countries  must  bear  substantially  the  same  proportion  to  the 
rates  of  wages  and  the  per  capita  tax  of  such  country  as  the  product  of 
this  country  bears  to  these  known  factors. 

In  all  the  principal  commercial  and  manufacturing  countries  of 
Europe  and  in  the  United  States  there  is  now  such  an  amount  of  avail¬ 
able  accumulated  capital,  as  to  make  it  certain  that  if  there  is  any  art 
or  industry  in  which  a  rate  or  profit  ranging  from  five  per  cent,  to  fifteen 
per  cent,  can  be  obtained,  that  branch  of  work  will  be  quickly  and 
surely  undertaken. 

Hence  it  follows  that  if  the  sum  of  the  wages  at  the  current  rate  pre¬ 
vailing  in  each  country  can  be  ascertained,  as  well  as  the  per  capita 
taxes,  we  may  ascertain  the  average  value  of  the  product  of  such  labor 
by  adding  to  these  elements  of  cost  from  five  per  cent,  to  fifteen  per 
cent,  as  the  corresponding  profit.  In  other  words,  there  must  be  a 
necessary  relation  in  the  ratios  which  profits,  wages,  and  taxes  bear  to 
each  other  in  each  commercial  or  manufacturing  country,  according  to 
the  respective  conditions  of  industry  in  that  country. 

For  example,  assuming  that  one  person  sustains  two  others  in  France 
as  well  as  in  this  country,  we  know  first  that  the  average  wages  in 
France  are  not  more  than  sixty  per  cent,  the  rate  of  wages  in  this 
country.  We  also  know  that  national  taxes  are  eighteen  dollars  per 
head  in  France  and  less  than  five  dollars  here.  \  We  need  therefore 
only  to  establish  the  rate  of  profit  which  will  induce  the  employment  of 
capital  in  the  arts  which  can  be  established  in  France  in  order  to  reach 
an  approximate  estimate  of  the  average  value  of  the  product  of  each 
person  employed  in  productive  industry. 

We  may  take  as  a  class  any  group  of  skilled  mechanics  or  artisans 
in  the  United  States  who  earn  two  dollars  a  day  or  six  hundred 
dollars  a  year,  each  one  supporting  two  other  persons. 


Their  net  wages  each,  free  of  national  taxes,  would  be . .  $585 

Their  proportion  of  national  taxes  for  three  persons  at  $5  per  capita .  15 

Wages  and  taxes .  . . $600 


Now  if  any  one  can  make  ten  per  cent,  upon  this  sum,  capital  will 
be  found  for  the  employment  of  such  men,  and  their  product  will  be 
sold  at  such  ten  per  cent,  advance,  if  no  more  can  be  had,  or  at  six 
hundred  and  sixty  dollars. 

This  would  make  the  final  value  of  the  product  of  such  a  workman 
six  hundred  and  sixty  dollars  :  divided  into  profits,  sixty  dollars  ; 
taxes,  fifteen  dollars  ;  net  wages,  five  hundred  and  eighty-five  dollars. 


88 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


We  know  that  the  corresponding  rate  of  wages  of  a  French  artisan 
would  not  exceed,  on  the  average,  sixty  per  cent.,  or  three  hundred  and 
sixty  dollars,  and  that  the  proportion  of  national  taxes  due  from  him 
and  his  two  dependants  would  be  fifty-four  dollars.  But  the  gross 
product  of  France  being  less  than  it  is  in  this  country,  it  may  require  a 
larger  proportion  of  the  product  to  be  assigned  to  profits  ;  we  will, 
therefore,  call  it  fifteen  per  cent,  on  three  hundred  and  sixty  dollars, 
which  is  fifty-four  dollars.  This  sum  added  to  wages  and  taxes  gives  a 
gross  value  of  the  French  workman’s  product,  four  hundred  and  four¬ 
teen  dollars. 

The  ratio  in  this  comparison  would  be  : 


Product,  per  workman,  United  States . $660 

“  “  “  France . 414 

“  “  capita,  United  States .  220 

“  “  France .  13& 


On  the  other  hand,  if  the  average  annual  product  is  only  one  hun¬ 
dred  and  thirty-eight  dollars’  worth  per  head,  or  four  hundred  and  four¬ 
teen  dollars’  worth  for  the  earnings  of  one  of  a  group  of  three  by  whom 
the  two  others  are  sustained,  the  reason  is  not  that  the  work  is  not 
equal,  but  that  the  quantity  of  the  product  to  each  person  is  limited  by 
the  conditions  under  which  the  work  is  done.  The  same  workman 
when  removed  to  the  United  States  may  produce  twice  as  much  as  in 
France  with  the  same  labor,  if  he  can  adjust  himself  to  his  new  condi¬ 
tions.  The  German  immigrant  actually  does  so.  Does  it  not  follow 
that  wages  are  the  reflex  or  result  of  the  labor  of  the  workman  derived 
from  the  sale  of  the  product  after  profits  and  taxes  have  been  set  apart  ? 
Hence  all  attempts  to  compare  the  cost  of  production  of  any  article  by 
comparing  the  rates  of  wages  must  be  entirely  fallacious  unless  all  the 
conditions  of  production  are  the  same.  The  rates  of  farm  wages  are, 
on  the  average,  four  to  five  dollars  per  month  with  board,  in  Rhenish 
Prussia  ;  in  the  United  States  they  are  four  to  six  times  as  much,  but 
the  money  cost  of  producing  a  bushel  of  wheat  in  Prussia  is  double  the 
cost  in  many  parts  of  the  West,  where  machinery  is  used  to  an  extent 
unknown  in  Prussia,  and  almost  impossible  on  account  of  the  very 
minute  subdivision  of  the  land. 

The  causes  of  the  variation  of  the  product  per  workman  and  per 
capita  are,  of  course,  manifold.  The  principal  causes  must  be  variation 
in  : 

First.  The  natural  resources  of  the  country. 

% 

Second.  The  efficiency  of  the  workman  in  respect  to  mental  training 
and  manual  or  technical  dexterity. 

Third.  The  efficiency  of  the  tools  or  machinery  used. 

Fourth.  The  full  or  deficient  nutrition  of  the  body. 


The  Relative  Strength  and  Weakness  of  Nations.  89 


Fifth.  The  freedom  from  obstruction  in  exchanging  the  surplus  of 
one  art  or  industry  for  what  is  deficient  in  another,  either  one  part  with 
another  in  the  same  country,  or  one  country  with  another. 

Upon  this  theory  I  have  constructed  the  foregoing  table,  to  which 
reference  may  be  made,  and  while  no  claim  for  positive  accuracy  in  the 
money  estimates  can  be  made  for  it,  it  may  perhaps  be  accepted  as 
relatively  or  proportionately  correct.  The  facts  sustain  these  propor¬ 
tions,  and  therefore  prove  the  theory  to  be  correct. 

Is  it  not  also  a  matter  of  common  observation  that  in  a  country  like 
the  United  States,  in  which  laborers  are  perfectly  free,  the  transfer. of 
land  and  of  other  property  very  easy  and  very  promptly  made,  the  use 
of  machinery  fully  comprehended,  and  in  which  'any  new  inventions 
speedily  adopted,  the  product  will  be  large  in  ratio  to  the  number  of 
persons  employed  ? 

Conversely,  if  the  natural  resources  of  a  country  are  not  large  in 
ratio  to  the  population,  the  transfer  of  land  complex  and  difficult,  ma¬ 
chinery  inadequate,  and  improved  tools  not  readily  accepted,  then  the 
product  will  be  small  in  ratio  to  the  number  of  laborers.  It  follows 
that  if  taxation  takes  a  large  share  of  such  small  product,  wages  must 
be  very  low,  and  subsistence  must  be  very  meagre. 

In  this  country  all  conditions  are  favorable  to  low  cost  of  produc¬ 
tion,  low  prices,  and  high  wages,  and  therefore  conducive  to  a  widely 
extended  commerce.  Labor  is  effective,  capital  ample,  and  the  aver¬ 
age  burden  of  national  taxation  very  light.  The  prices  of  our  great 
staple  products,  such  as  grain,  wool,  and  cotton,  are  practically  deter¬ 
mined  by  competition  in  the  markets  of  the  world.  From  fifteen  per 
cent,  to  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  product  of  agriculture  of  the  United 
States  finds  its  market  in  foreign  countries.  Therefore  the  price  of  all 
products  of  agriculture  is  determined  by  the  price  which  the  surplus 
will  bring  for  export. 

Agriculture  represents  the  largest  single  industry  ;  and  the  product 
being  very  large  in  ratio  to  the  number  of  men  employed,  because  of 
the  fertility  of  the  soil  and  the  use  of  machinery,  it  follows  that  when 
the  low  rate  of  taxes  has  been  set  aside  and  the  ratio  of  profit  has  been 
assigned  which  is  required  in  order  that  capital  may  be  invested  in 
agriculture,  the  rates  of  wages  or  the  earning  of  farmers  in  this  country 
are,  relatively  to  other  countries,  very  high.  Under  such  conditions 
large  earnings  and  high  wages  are  the  necessary  correlative  of  the  very 
low  cost  of  the  production  of  the  staples  of  agriculture.  One  is  the 
reflex  of  the  other. 

Up  to  this  time  the  conditions  of  and  the  wages  in  all  other  arts  in 
the  United  States  have  been  practically  determined  by  reference  to  the 
condition  of  and  wages  in  agriculture.  All  other  arts  which  have  been 
undertaken  in  this  country  are  therefore  governed  by  corresponding 


90 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


rules  ;  namely,  by  the  application  of  machinery  under  the  best  condi¬ 
tions,  the  largest  product  is  assured  with  the  least  expenditure  of  labor. 
Therefore  in  all  arts,  with  few  exceptions,  after  the  low  rate  of  taxation 
and  such  profit  as  is  necessary  to  induce  the  investment  of  capital 
have  been  set  aside,  the  general  rate  of  wages  has  been  very  high,  be¬ 
cause  the  general  cost  of  production  has  been  low.  The  same  rule, 
therefore,  applies  in  all  arts — that  high  wages  or  earnings  are  the 
reflex  or  complement  of  the  large  product,  so  long  as  labor  and  capital 
are  left  free  to  work  together,  and  are  not  subjected  to  excessive  taxa¬ 
tion.  Hence  no  comparison  of  cost  can  be  made  by  a  comparison  of 
wages  unless  all  other  conditions  are  identical. 

This  fact  was  very  clearly  seen  by  the  late  Secretary  Frelinghuysen, 
and  his  successor,  Secretary  Bayard,  begins  his  instructions  to  consuls 
in  these  terms  :  “  ‘  There  are  certain  natural  and  artificial  conditions 
which  so  largely  affect  the  direct  conditions  of  wages  as  to  be  entitled 
to  consideration  in  any  analytical  examination  of  the  great  question  of 
labor.  ...  It  would  be  a  legitimate  field  of  inquiry  to  ascertain  what 
are  the  conditions  which  enable  England  to  manufacture  machinery 
and  other  products  at  less  prices  than  similar  goods  can  be  manufac¬ 
tured  in  France,  and  at  prices  equal  to  those  in  Germany,  while  the  rates 
of  wages  paid  to  workmen  engaged  in  such  manufactories  in  England  are, 
on  the  whole,  higher  than  those  paid  for  similar  labor  in  France,  and, 
as  a  foregoing  table  shows,  more  than  double  those  paid  in  Germany.’ 

“  It  is  the  wish  of  the  State  Department  to  pursue  this  inquiry  in 
the  direction  indicated  in  this  paragraph,  and  for  this  purpose  the  fol¬ 
lowing  general  instructions  are  given  to  consuls,  reference  being  made 
to  the  specific  forms  of  interrogatory  appended  hereto,  or  which  will  be 
sent  hereafter.” 

This  apparent  paradox  of  high  wages  and  low  cost  becomes  very 
simple  when  applied  by  any  employer  to  his  own  experience.  In  a  dull 
time,  when  it  becomes  necessary  to  discharge  a  part  of  the  working 
force,  which  are  the  operatives  first  discharged  ?  Are  they  not  those 
whose  wages  or  earnings  have  been  lowest — not  those  who  have  pre¬ 
viously  earned  the  most  for  themselves  ?  Are  not  the  men  who  earn 
the  most  for  themselves  retained  because  they  are  the  most  effective 
workmen,  and  therefore  most  capable  of  producing  goods  at  the  lowest 
cost  ?  Conversely,  does  not  the  fact  which  is  apparently  lost  sight  of 
by  the  proposed  “  organizers  of  labor  ”  represent  an  absolute  principle, 
namely,  that  the  strong,  industrious,  and  well-nourished  manual 
laborer,  or  the  skilful  artisan  or  factory  operative,  will  be  substantially 
sure  of  continuous  employment  at  the  highest  possible  rates  of  wages 
when  the  less  able  or  competent  can  find  no  steady  occupation  ? 

Is  not  the  rule  of  universal  application  in  civilized  countries  that 
there  must  be  a  certain  ratio  between  the  sum  of  the  wages  and  the 


The  Relative  Strength  and  Weakness  of  Nations.  9 1 


taxes  combined,  and  the  profit  which  may  be  derived  from  the  several 
arts  and  industries  of  each  of  the  several  countries  ? 

It  has  been  admitted  that  in  very  poor  countries  where  hand  labor 
prevails  in  greater  measure  than  the  application  of  machinery,  and 
where  the  taxes  are  very  heavy  while  the  product  is  very  small,  the 
ratio  of  profit  must  bear  a  larger  proportion  to  the  entire  product  than 
it  does  in  a  rich  country  where  machinery  is  most  fully  applied  and 
where  taxes  are  low. 

In  making  the  computations  of  the  relative  per  capita  product  of 
the  different  countries,  I  have  not  attempted  to  cover  this  variation  in 
the  rate  of  profit,  but  I  assume  that,  on  the  whole,  any  art  in  which 
capital  can  secure  ten  per  cent,  profit  will  be  surely  undertaken  either 
in  the  United  States  or  in  England,  France,  Germany,  and  the  Nether¬ 
lands.  Perhaps  not  in  Italy  without  a  higher  rate  of  profit. 

Upon  this  theory,  and  assuming  that  the  product  per  capita  of  the 
United  States  may  be  valued  at  two  hundred  dollars’  worth  ;  that  of 
England,  with  its  income  from  foreign  investments  added,  may  not 
exceed  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  dollars’  worth  ;  that  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  combined  may  be  assumed  not  to  exceed  one 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars’  worth  ;  that  of  France  as  not  exceeding  one 
hundred  and  twenty  dollars’  worth  ;  that  of  Germany  as  not  exceeding 
one  hundred  dollars’  worth  ;  that  of  Italy  as  not  exceeding  eighty 
dollars’  worth  ;  such  being  substantially  the  ratios  which  the  average 
rates  of  wages  with  the  per  capita  national  taxation  added  bear  to  each 

other,  and  to  the  wages  and  taxes  of  the  United  States,  with  corres- 

» 

ponding  profits  added  in  each  case. 

In  order  that  this  proposition  may  be  made  more  clear,  the  table 
on  page  92  is  submitted  in  which  the  line  representing  the  product  of 
each  country  is  divided  off  into  sections  :  in  the  sections  on  the  right 
will  be  found  the  national  taxation  per  capita  ;  on  the  left,  the  value 
of  what  remains  for  distribution  as  wages,  profits,  and  for  municipal 
taxes.  In  the  same  table  will  be  found  the  percentage  which  national 
taxes  bear  to  the  assumed  per  capita  product. 

In  considering  these  remainders  after  national  taxes  have  been  set 
off,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  municipal  taxation  as  well  as  profits 
doubtless  take  a  larger  proportion  in  the  poorer  countries  than  in  the 
richer  ones.  Hence  that  part  of  the  product  which  may  be  assigned 
as  the  wages  or  earnings  of  the  working  people  becomes  less  and 
less  in  proportion  to  the  whole  product,  as  the  product  itself  dimin¬ 
ishes  in  quantity  and  in  value.  “  For  he  that  hath,  to  him  shall  be 
given  :  and  he  that  hath  not,  from  him  shall  be  taken  even  that  which 
he  hath.” 

These  figures  correspond  to  known  facts.  In  Italy,  which  is  rel¬ 
atively  under  a  heavier  burden  of  armies  and  taxes  than  any  one  of  the 


92 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


countries  treated,  what  is  left  to  the  workman,  either  of  his  own  product 
or  what  he  can  buy  with  his  wages,  now  appears  to  be  insufficient  to 

RELATIVE  PROPORTION  OF  THE  ASSUMED  PRODUCT  PER  CAPITA  WHICH  IS 
ABSORBED  BY  NATIONAL  TAXATION  ONLY,  ON  THE  BASIS  OF 

PREVIOUS  COMPUTATIONS. 


The  proportion  divided  off  at  the  end  represents  national  taxation.  The 
remainder  is  what  is  left  to  be  applied  to  local  taxation,  rent,  profits,  earn¬ 
ings,  and  wages. 

United  States,  product  estimated  $200  per  capita. 


195- 


England,  product  estimated  $175  per  capita. 


165-167 


Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  product  estimated 


138-140 


>150  per  capita. 

3 


France,  product  estimated  $120  per  capita. 


1 00-104 


16-20 


Germany,  product  estimated  $100  per  capita. 


88-92 


8-12 


Italy,  product  estimated  $80  per  capita. 


68-70 


Proportion  of  national  taxation  to  estimated  product : 


Germany . 


On  revising  these 
articles  in  April,  1889* 
for  republication  in 
book  form,  I  find  no 
reason  to  make  any 
material  change  in  the 
figures  of  this  table. 
Investigations  which 
have  been  made  in 
France  have  proved 
that  the  average  rate 
of  taxation  given  for 
each  state  was  substan¬ 
tially  correct,  but  fur¬ 
ther  investigations  in 
respect  to  the  value  of 
the  product  per  capita 
in  European  countries, 
would  lead  me  to  re¬ 
duce  the  figures  of 
production,  except  in 
England.  Since  the 
publication  of  this 
article  the  burden  of 
European  armies  and 
debts  has  gone  on  in¬ 
creasing,  and  the  ten¬ 
dency  to  revolution 

and  repudiation  becomes  more  manifest  as  time  goes  on.  Objection  has  been  taken  to 
these  comparisons  upon  the  ground  that  taxation  for  local  and  municipal  expenditure, 
should  also  be  compared  in  order  to  rfeach  just  conclusions.  In  this  view  I  do  not 
concur,  because  the  revenues  which  are  raised  by  taxation  for  department,  county,  city, 
and  town  expenditure  in  Europe  and  for  State  expenditure  in  this  country,  are 
mainly  used  for  the  support  of  roads,  bridges,  schools,  police,  and  for  providing  water 
and  in  many  cases  gas  ;  all  of  which  are  necessary  to  the  organization  of  society,  and 
are  constructive  rather  than  destructive  in  their  nature.  On  the  other  hand  but  a  small 
proportion  of  the  national  expenditures  are  constructive  or  necessary  to  the  organi¬ 
zation  of  society,  the  greater  portion  of  such  taxes  being  devoted  to  the  support  of 
armies,  navies,  and  dynasties,  or  to  the  payment  of  interest  on  debts  which  were  incurred 
for  war,  and  were  imposed  by  dynastic  governments  upon  the  people  without  their 
consent.  As  the  time  approaches  when  democratic  governments  may  displace  the 
present  dynastic  rulers  and  do  away  with  class  privileges,  the  question  may  arise  by 
what  right  these  great  national  mortgages  were  imposed  upon  the  people  of  the  present 
day  by  the  rulers  of  the  past.  The  growth  of  national  debts  and  standing  armies  has. 
mainly  occurred  since  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  :  the  question  may  well  be 
asked  how  soon  the  people  of  Europe  will  refuse  to  bear  the  load  which  now  seems  to- 
be  as  impossible  to  be  borne  much  longer  as  it  is  incapable  of  being  thrown  off  except 
by  the  most  violent  outbreak  of  revolution  and  by  general  repudiation. 


Italy , 


France. 


The  Relative  Strength  and  Weakness  of  Nations.  93 


•sustain  life  in  strength  and  vigor.  Is  it  not  also  true  that  portions  of 
the  population  of  the  German  empire,  especially  in  southern  Germany, 
are  living  on  the  edge  of  starvation,  becoming  weaker  as  they  become 
less  well  nourished  ? 

In  Egypt  so  much  of  the  miserable  product  of  a  rich  and  productive 
country  is  taken  away  to  meet  the  interest  of  a  bonded  debt  imposed 
upon  the  people  without  their  consent,  that  starvation  exists  in  the 
Nile  valley,  which  has  once  sustained  tenfold  the  present  population 
in  comfort.  While  so-called  Christian  nations  have  followed  the 
Pagan  example  and  have  again  combined  “to  despoil  the  Egyptians” 
by  enforcing  taxes  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet  and  the  mouth  of  the 
cannon,  to  pay  interest  upon  a  debt  imposed  by  a  foreign  ruler,  whose 
successor  has  been  found  incapable  of  collecting  the  tax  except  when 
sustained  by  a  foreign  force,  when  the  oppressed  people  attempted  to 
resist  the  wrong  ! 

Is  it  not  true  that  France  has  reached  its  utmost  limit  of  taxation, 
and  the  annual  deficit  is  adding  to  the  burden  which  cannot,  perhaps, 
be  borne  much  longer?  Yet  France  may  be  saved  from  immediate 
bankruptcy  by  the  richness  of  its  soil  and  the  intelligent  economy  of 
its  people. 

Is  not  the  present  burden  upon  Ireland  the  burning  question  in 
Great  Britain  ? 

May  there  not  be  found  in  these  conditions  the  underlying  causes 
of  nihilism,  anarchy,  socialism,  and  communism  upon  the  continent 
of  Europe  ?  As  one  witnessess  the  malignant  effect  of  the  burden  of 
national  debts,  and  the  power  which  is  given  to  the  great  financial 
magnates  of  Europe  to  control  events  for  nefarious  purposes,  one 
cannot  help  looking  forward  to  a  time,  perhaps  not  very  distant,  when 
the  power  and  right  of  one  generation  to  mortgage  the  labor  of 
those  who  come  after  them  for  the  conduct  of  wars  will  be  contested, 
and  when  the  jurists  may  declare  that  no  debt  incurred  for  purposes 
of  war  shall  be  lawfully  binding  upon  those  who  come  after.  When 
pay  as  you  fight  becomes  the  rule  and  practice  of  nations,  the  power 
of  dynasties  to  oppress  the  people  will  be  almost  wholly  taken  from 
them. 

In  considering  what  is  left  after  taxes  and  profits  have  been  set  aside 
in  these  several  countries,  it  must  be  remembered  that  an  equal  amount 
of  money  will  buy  a  less  amount  of  food  in  Europe  than  it  will  in  the 
United  States,  and  the  price  of  food  is  much  more  than  half  the  cost  of 
subsistence  to  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  working  people  of 
Europe  ;  else  we  should  not  be  exporting  the  products  of  our  fields  to 
European  countries,  and  there  would  be  no  call  for  prohibitory  laws, 
or  for  high  duties  on  grain  and  pork  in  a  vain  attempt  to  promote 
an  increase  of  the  farm  products  in  Germany  and  in  France  by  such 
artificial  methods. 


94 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


r 


The  true  measure  of  these  burdens  upon  industry  may  be,  perhaps, 
more  accurately  measured  in  terms  of  work  than  when  stated  in  terms 
of  money  or  of  men.  The  product  of  every  country  stands  for  so 
much  work.  In  the  census  year  the  work  of  this  country,  manual, 
mental,  mechanical,  and  manufacturing,  was  performed  by  one  in  three 
of  the  population  so  far  as  gain  in  money  was  the  object  of  the  work, 
the  bread-winners  numbering  17,400,000  in  a  little  over  50,000,000 
population. 

The  national  and  municipal  taxes  of  that  year  were  proportionately 
higher  than  they  are  now  ;  all  taxes,  national,  State,  and  municipal,  in 
that  year  required  substantially  seven  per  cent,  of  the  highest  estimate 
of  the  value  of  total  product  to  be  applied  to  them.  This  percentage 
being  applied  to  persons,  represented  the  year’s  work  of  men  numbering 
1,218,000,  whose  labor  was  devoted  either  to  the  direct  work  of  govern¬ 
ment,  or  in  sustaining  all  the  forms  of  government  by  way  of  national, 
town,  city,  county,  and  State  taxes. 

The  national  taxes  only  of  the  United  States  are  now  about  two  and 
a  half  per  cent,  of  the  product,  and  they  therefore  represent  the  work 
of  500,000  persons  out  of  about  20,000,000  workers.  This  body  of  half 
a  million  persons  is  either  employed  directly  in  the  service  of  the  gov¬ 
ernment,  or  else  is  occupied  in  sustaining  those  who  are  in  such  service* 

If  the  burden  upon  the  United  States  corresponded  to  the  several 
percentages  assigned  to  other  countries,  the  number  who  would  be  en¬ 
gaged  either  in  the  service  of  the  government,  civil  or  military,  or  in 
sustaining  those  who  perform  this  work,  would  be  according  to  the  fol¬ 
lowing  computation,  it  being  assumed  that  out  of  our  present  popula¬ 
tion,  approaching  sixty  million  persons,  twenty  millions  are  at  work  in 
various  occupations  in  sustaining  the  whole  body  politic  : 

At  the  ratio  which  the  national  taxes  now  bear  to  product  in  the 
United  States,  the  actual  work  required  to  sustain  all  the  functions 

of  the  National  Government,  directly  or  indirectly,  is  that  of .  500,000  men* 

At  the  ratio  which  the  national  taxes  bear  to  the  assumed  product  of 
England,  the  proportionate  number  of  men  who  would  be  required 
in  support  of  the  functions  of  government  in  the  United  States 


would  be . .  1,348,000  “ 

At  the  ratio  assigned  to  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  as  a  whole .  1,574,000  “ 

“  “  “  “  “  France .  3,000,000  “ 

“  “  “  “  “  Germany .  2,400,000  “ 

“  “  “  “  “  Italy .  2,950,000  “ 


It  will  be  apparent  to  any  one  who  reasons  upon  these  figures  that 
if  either  one  of  these  proportionate  services  in  sustaining  government, 
except  perhaps  that  of  Great  Britain,  were  in  force  in  this  country,  it 
would  put  a  strain  even  upon  our  abundant  resources  that  we  could 
scarcely  bear.  What  must  then  be  the  burden  upon  those  who  are 
thus  loaded  ? 


The  Relative  Strength  and  Weakness  of  Nations.  95 


The  computed  product  of  two  hundred  dollars’  worth  per  head  of 
our  population,  after  setting  aside  ten  per  cent,  as  the  maximum  addi¬ 
tion  to  capital,  and  six  per  cent,  as  the  maximum  of  all  our  present 
national  and  municipal  taxes,  leaves  only  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight 
dollars’  worth  to  each  man,  woman,  and  child.  This  being  divided  by 
three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days  in  the  year  leaves  but  forty-six  cents’ 
worth  per  day  for  shelter,  clothing,  and  food  for  each  person.  A 
variation  of  five  cents  per  day  to  each  person  from  this  computed 
average  stands  for  an  additional  product  worth  more  than  $1,000,000,000 
a  year. 

Let  it  be  assumed  for  a  moment  that  our  two  hundred  dollars’ 
worth  of  product,  of  which  two  and  a  half  per  cent,  supports  the 
National  Government,  were  depleted  by  national  taxation  to  the  extent 
of  fifteen  per  cent.,  as  the  product  of  France  now  is,  a  difference  of 
twelve  and  a  half  per  cent.;  then  the  average  sum  available  to  each  per¬ 
son  per  day  would  be  reduced  from  forty-six  cents  to  a  fraction  under 
thirty-nine  cents  ;  not  apparently  a  great  variation, — only  about  the 
price  of  a  glass  of  beer, — yet  six  cents  a  day  comes  to  over  $1,300,000,- 
000  on  our  present  population. 

If  we  assume  that  one  in  three  of  the  population  of  Great  Britain, 
France,  Germany,  and  Italy  is  occupied  for  gain,  the  whole  number  of 
workers  is  a  fraction  less  than  50,000,000  out  of  a  population  a  little 
less  than  150,000,000. 

At  the  respective  ratios  assigned  to  the  functions  oTgovernment,  the 
total  number  engaged  in  such  functions  is  now  in  those  four  countries 
6,067,000,  or  a  fraction  over  twelve  per  cent,  of  the  whole  working 
force,  thus  occupied  either  as  soldiers  in  active  service,  as  officials  in 
civil  service,  or  in  sustaining  these  classes  with  bread,  njeat,  and  shelter. 
The  actual  number  of  men  under  arms  in  these  countries  is  2,086,000, 
and  they  cost  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars  each.  It  surely 
takes  at  least  one  peasant’s  or  one  operative’s  product  to  sustain  one 
soldier.  If  the  armies  and  navies  require  the  services  of  2,086,000  men, 
and  if  the  work  of  as  many  more  is  required  to  sustain  them,  then  the 
waste  of  preparation  for  war  requires  the  constant  work  of  4,176,000 
men  out  of  30,000,000  men  of  arms-bearing  age  in  Great  Britain,  France, 

• 

Germany,  and  Italy,  computing  one  in  five  of  the  population  of  arms- 
bearing  age.  This  is  very  nearly  one  in  every  seven  of  the  adult  men. 
Deducting  this  number  from  the  whole  number  assigned  to  government 
service  as  above,  6,067,000,  the  remainder  is  1,891,000,  or  proportion¬ 
ately  about  fifty  per  cent,  more  than  have  been  assigned  to  the  support 
of  the  National  Government  of  the  United  States  aside  from  their  army 
and  navy.  The  number  needed  to  earn  the  interest  on  the  national 
debts  of  those  countries  above  the  proportion  required  in  the  United 
States  would  fully  account  for  this  disparity. 


96 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


Do  not  these  facts  sustain  the  approximate  accuracy  of  all  the  pre¬ 
ceding  computations  ?  Does  not  the  burden  of  armaments  only  require 
ten  to  twelve  per  cent,  of  the  whole  number  of  men  of  arms-bearing 
age  in  those  countries,  or  eight  to  ten  per  cent,  of  the  whole  working 
force,  if  the  proportion  of  working  men  and  women  to  the  population  is 
the  same  as  in  the  United  States  ;  to  wit,  one  in  three  ? 

But  is  such  the  proportion  of  men  and  women  who  must  labor  to 
the  utmost  for  subsistence  ?  When  men  are  wasting  their  time  in 
camp  and  barracks,  are  not  the  women  and  children  forced  to  labor  in 
such  a  way  that  the  physical  stamina  of  the  race  is  deteriorated,  and 
material  prosperity  sapped  at  its  very  foundation  ? 

What  must  then  be  the  necessary  conditions  of  life  when  the 
money’s  worth  to  be  divided  among  the  families  of  those  who  do  the 
actual  work  of  production  is  only  one  half  as  much  as  it  is  in  the 
United  States  ?  If  the  product  of  Germany  is  only  one  hundred 
dollars’  worth  per  head,  it  will  yield  less  than  tweniy-eight  cents ’  worth 
per  day  for  all  taxes,  subsistence,  profits,  and  wages  to  each  person. 
If  the  product  of  Italy  is  worth  only  eighty  dollars  per  head,  all  taxes, 
profits,  and  wages  must  be  derived  from  twenty-two  cents'  worth  per  day 
to  each  person. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  average  value  of  the  product  per  capita 
of  these  European  countries  cannot  be  deduced  a  priori  according  to 
the  theory  presented,  then  again  we  must  go  back  to  the  facts  ;  and 
we  then  find  in  all  the  various  reports  upon  the  condition  of  a  vast  body 
of  ‘the  population  of  Europe  that  they  are  actually  subsisting  upon 
much  less  than  half  the  income  of  the  working  people  of  this  country. 
The  facts  sustain  the  theory,  and  the  theory  may  explain  the  facts. 

Many  records  may  be  found  in  recent  consular  reports  of  the 
families  of  German  and  Italian  peasants  who  are  subsisted  on  only 
four  to  five  cents’  worth  of  food  for  each  person  per  day  ;  and  even  at 
that  price  the  cost  of  food  is  sixty  or  seventy  per  cent,  of  the  whole 
cost  of  living. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  such  are  the  facts  as  to  common  life  of  great 
masses  of  the  people,  and  if  we  cannot  deduce  the  per  capita  annual 
product  of  each  worker  in  Europe  by  adding  ten  per  cent,  for  profit 
or  addition  to  capital  to  the  average  rate  of  wages  and  the  average 
burden  of  taxes, — that  is  to  say,  if  the  product  of  either  country  is 
greater  per  capita  than  this  measure,  then  it  follows  that  the  privileged 
classes  of  Europe  are  securing  to  their  own  use  a  very  much  larger 
share  of  the  annual  product  than  the  capitalists  of  this  country  can  thus 
secure  ;  and  this^adds  to  the  danger  and  complexity  of  the  problem  in 
Europe,  rather  than  rendering  it  more  simple. 

What  then  do  these  figures  and  facts  mean  ?  Is  not  the  apparent 
strength  of  the  armaments  of  European  nations  a  source  of  weakness 


The  Relative  Strength  and  Weakness  of  Nations.  97 


which  is  now  working  at  and  undermining  the  foundation  of  the 
present  forms  of  society  upon  the  continent  ? 

Is  not  our  apparent  weakness  the  very  source  of  our  strength  ? 

Are  we  not  stronger  without  expensive  fortifications,  navies,  and 
other  armaments  than  we  should  be  if  we  spent  our  force  in  construct¬ 
ing  them  ? 

May  not  the  time  be  near  at  hand  when  it  shall  no  longer  be  lawful 
for  one  generation  to  mortgage  the  labor  of  the  next  by  any  national 
and  perhaps  by  any  municipal  debt  ?  When  pay  as  you  fight  becomes 
the  rule,  will  not  war  become  almost  impossible  ? 

May  not  the  right  government  of  cities  be  found  in  more  strictly 
limiting  the  power  of  cities  or  towns  to  incur  debts  ? 

Has  not  the  power  of  the  rings  which  have  plundered  our  great 
cities  been  founded  mainly  in  the  abuse  of  public  credit  ?  Could 
Tweed  have  stolen  the  property  of  the  people  of  the  city  of  New  York 
had  he  plundered  them  by  direct  taxation  ? 

These  may  be  questions  which  will  soon  require  an  answer,  and 
which  are  perhaps  suggested  by  the  figures  and  the  facts  submitted  in 
this  treatise. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  present  relative  conditions  of  Europe  as 
compared  to  the  United  States  require  no  statistics  to  bring  them  into 
view.  Perhaps  not  ;  yet  when  a  great  bankruptcy  occurs  or  is  impend¬ 
ing,  the  first  call  of  the  business  man  is  for  a  trial  balance.  Such 
bankruptcies  sometimes  occur  in  arts  which  are  most  necessary  and 
must  be  continued.  When  the  settlement  has  been  made  after  the 
bankruptcy,  the  business  is  reestablished,  but  the  expensive  super¬ 
numeraries  who  had  previously  lived  upon  the  work  of  others,  are  after¬ 
ward  set  to  work  to  earn  their  own  living. 

In  what  way  the  representatives  of  the  dynasties  and  privileged 
classes  of  Europe,  or  those  whose  present  trade  is  war,  will  get  their 
living  after  a  hungry  democracy  has  called  for  a  settlement  of  accounts 
will  be  an  interesting  problem  to  watch. 

The  business  of  government  is  necessary  and  must  be  continued. 
How  will  it  be  reorganized  after  the  impending  settlement  of  accounts 
in  Europe  has  been  completed  ? 

Many  other  applications  of  the  statistics  of  these  two  studies  will 
suggest  themselves  to  him  who  can  read  what  is  written  between  the 
graphical  lines  or  underneath  the  figures.  Except  to  one  who  pos¬ 
sesses  such  an  imagination,  statistics  may  be  but  dry  bones,  and  all 
figures  may  be  mere  rubbish. 


LOW  PRICES,  HIGH  WAGES,  SMALL  PROFITS 

\ 


WHAT  MAKES  THEM? 


. 


’ 


LOW  PRICES,  HIGH  WAGES,  SMALL  PROFITS: 


WHAT  MAKES  THEM?1 

THE  minds  of  many  persons  have  been  and  are  greatly  disturbed  j 
because  there  has  been  in  recent  years  a  great  reduction  in  the 
prices  of  nearly  all  the  leading  articles  of  commerce,  the  prin-  I 
cipal  decline  dating  substantially  from  the  year  1873.  This  decline  in  /  V 
prices  began  soon  after  the  war  in  the  United  States,  but  the  general 
decline  in  all  countries  on  a  specie  basis  may  be  dated  from  1873.  { 

By  whatever  standard  prices  are  measured  (and  there  are  many 
carefully  compiled  tables),  the  average  is  found  to  be  lower  at  the  pres¬ 
ent  time  than  at  any  period  since  a  date  anterior  to  the  year  1850,  in 
which  year  the  great  supply  of  gold  from  California,  and  a  little  later 
that  from  Australia,  began  to  affect  the  volume  of  the  money  metals  of 
the  world. 

In  most  of  the  discussions  of  the  money  question  this  great  fall  in 
prices  has  been  treated  as  if  it  were  a  misfortune,  and  it  is  often  held 
that  any  measure  of  legislation  ought  to  be  adopted  which  might  tend 
to  check  it.  Is  not  this  a  very  partial  and  one-sided  view  of  the  sub¬ 
ject  7 

Some  one  has  wisely  and  wittily  said  that  “  it  does  not  much  matter 
what  happens  to  the  millionaire — how  is  it  with  the  million  ?  ” 

If  it  shall  appear  that  out  of  this  great  reduction  in  prices  the  mil¬ 
lions  have  gained  higher  wages  ;  that  hundreds  of  thousands  of  families 
have  gained  better  homes  and  greater  comfort  in  life  ;  while  those  who 
have  suffered  temporary  loss  have  been  only  the  rich  who  have  been 
incapable  of  adjusting  themselves  to  the  new  conditions,  or  the  un¬ 
skilled  poor  who  have  been  unable  to  grasp  the  greater  opportunities 
for  welfare  which  invention  has  offered  them,  then  may  we  not  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  diminished  profits  and  low  prices  are  merely  the 
complement  of  higher  wages  and  lower  cost,  and  are,  therefore,  most 
certain  indications  of  general  progress  from  poverty  to  welfare,  yet  still 
leaving  the  problem  open,  how  to  help  the  unskilled  poor  ? 

It  will  be  remembered  that  it  has  been  stated  that  so  far  as  the  great 
mass  of  the  people  of  this  and  of  other  lands  are  concerned,  about  one 
1  Reprinted  from  The  Century  Alagazine  for  August,  1887. 


IOI 


102 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


half  the  cost  of  living  is  the  price  paid  for  the  materials  for  food,  the 
cost  of  food  to  common  laborers  who  have  families  to  support  being  as 
a  rule  much  more  than  one  half  their  income. 

The  question  of  interest  to  those  who  assume  to  be  strictly  “  the 
working  classes  ”  is  not  so  much  what  the  price  of  the  necessities  of  life 
may  be,  as  it  is  how  many  portions  of  food,  fuel,  and  clothing  each  one 
can  buy  at  the  retail  shops  in  which  they  deal,  and  how  good  a  shelter 
each  one  can  procure  for  one  day’s  or  one  year’s  earnings.  In  other 
words,  what  is,  or  what  has  been,  the  value  of  a  day’s  labor  when  con¬ 
verted  into  the  commodities  which  are  necessary  to  existence  ? 

If  these  so-called  “  working  classes  ”  have  steadily  gained  in  the 
purchasing  power  of  their  wages  or  salaries,  while  farmers,  who  number 
(not  including  farm  laborers)  250  in  each  1,000,  have  also  prospered 
during  this  period  when  prices  have  been  falling  and  profits  have  been 
diminishing,  then  the  economic  history  of  the  last  25  years  may  be  pre¬ 
sented  in  an  entirely  new  aspect.  In  such  case,  instead  of  attempting 
to  check  the  fall  in  prices  by  tampering  with  the  standard  of  value  or 
by  other  empirical  devices  “  for  making  money  plenty,”  it  may  be  ex¬ 
pedient  to  hold  on  to  what  has  been  gained  and  to  fight  it  out  on  this 
line,  even  if  several  more  years  of  so-called  depression  should  follow 
this  determination,  these  recent  yeajs  of  so-called  depression  having 
actually  been  years  of  greatest  progress. 

Since  the  end  of  the  civil  war  in  1865,  and  yet  more  since  the  so- 
called  panic  of  1873,  there  has  been  greater  progress  in  common  wel¬ 
fare  among  the  people  of  this  country  than  ever  before.  It  has  been 
the  period  in  which  there  has  been  the  greatest  application  of  science 
and  invention  to  the  production  and  distribution  of  food  that  ever 
occurred  in  any  single  generation  in  the  history  of  this  or  any  other 
country  ;  and  food  is  the  prime  necessity  of  material  life. 

.  In  order  to  sustain  this  proposition,  it  is  necessary  to  establish  a 
standard  of  subsistence.  This  can  be  done  with  respect  to  the  materi¬ 
als  which  are  required  for  food,  clothing,  and  fuel.  Rent  cannot  be 
so  surely  included  in  this  standard,  because  the  conditions  of  shelter 
vary  so  much  in  different  parts  of  the  country  and  in  different  cities. 

The  cost  of  the  materials  for  food,  of  materials  for  clothing,  boots 
and  shoes,  and  of  fuel,  probably  represents  about  seventy  per  cent,  of 
the  cost  of  living  on  the  part  of  well-to-do  mechanics^  railway  em¬ 
ployees,  or  of  other  persons  in  analogous  occupations  who  may  be  con¬ 
sidered  in  the  average  position  of  working  people.  All  these  elements 
of  life  have  declined  very  greatly  in  their  prices  in  the  period  under 
consideration.  In  some  regions  rents  have  declined,  in  others  they 
have  been  stationary  ;  in  crowded  cities  they  have  either  advanced  in 
some  small  measure,  or  else  the  apartments  hired  for  a  given  sum  of 
money  have  not  been  equal  to  those  previously  occupied.  So  far  as  I 


Law  Prices ,  High  Wages,  Small  Profits. 


103 


have  been  able  to  compare  rents,  however,  either  those  paid  to  a  land¬ 
lord  or  the  rental  value  of  premises  owned  by  the  occupant,  there  has 
not  been,  on  the  average,  much  variation  from  the  rule  affecting  com¬ 
modities  in  the  period  under  consideration. 

The  standard  portions  of  food,  cloth,  boots  and  shoes,  and  fuel 
which  are  made  use  of  in  the  subsequent  computation  of  the  purchas¬ 
ing  power  of  a  day's  or  a  year’s  wages,  have  been  established  in  the 
following  manner  : 

FOOD. 


By  comparing  data  gathered  by  myself  with  other  data  gathered  by 
several  State  Bureaus  of  the  Statistics  of  Labor,  it  has  been  fairly  es¬ 
tablished  that  the  average  food-supply  of  mechanics  and  adult  factory 


Table  A. — Standard  of  a  Single  Day’s 
Ration,  with  its  average  cost  in  1880, 
’81,  and  ’82. 

]/z  to  1  lb.  meat,  poultry  or  fish,  ) 

varying  according  to  kind  and  V 

quality,  costing  on  average.  .  10  ) 

yz  to  y  pints  milk.  . 

1  to  1  yz  oz.  butter.  . . 
yz  to  y  oz.  cheese. . . 

1  egg  every  other  day 
y  to  1  lb.  bread.  . . . 


Vegetables  and  roots . 2  @  2)4 

Sugar  and  syrup .  2 

Tea  and  coffee .  1  ) 


Salt,  spice,  fruit,  ice, and  sundries  1)4  @  2 


25  cts. 

STANDARD  PORTION  OF  CLOTH  FOR  ONE  YEAR  : 

10  yards  medium  brown  cotton. 

10  “  standard  gingham. 

10  “  36.  in.  bleached  shirting. 

20  “  printed  calico. 

10  “  4-0Z  woollen  flannel,  or  worsted 

dress  goods. 

5  “  16-oz.  cassimere. 

5  “  Kentucky  jean-satinet,  or  light 

cassimere. 


Table  B. — Standard  of  400  Rations, 
or  1  year’s  supply  for  1  adult  with  35 
extra  rations. 

200  lbs.  corned  beef, 
loo  lbs.  salt  pork. 

100  lbs.  smoked  ham. 

100  quarts  milk. 

30  lbs.  butter. 

20  lbs.  cheese. 

17  doz.  eggs. 

I  barrel  flour. 
y  barrel  corn  meal. 

20  bushels  potatoes. 

80  lbs,  sugar. 

4  lbs.  tea. 

8  lbs  coffee. 

$6  worth  assumed  at  all  dates. 


$100 

STANDARD  OF  BOOTS  AND  SHOES  FOR  ONE  YEAR  : 

2  pairs  men’s  heavy  boots. 

Standard  of  fuel  for  1  year  : 

I y  tons  anthracite  coal  or  its  equiva¬ 
lent  in  bituminous  coal  or  wood. 


It  is  assumed  that  the  prices  of  meat,  fish,  and  poultry,  fresh  or  salt,  will  have  varied 
substantially  with  the  variations  in  salt  and  smoked  meats,  and  as  the  prices  of  the 
latter  are  more  uniformly  quoted,  the  prices  used  in  making  up  the  general  standard 
are  those  given  for  salt  and  smoked  meats.  In  the  same  way  the  price  of  potatoes  has 
been  taken  as  a  standard  for  the  variation  in  the  price  of  all  green  vegetable  food  or 
roots. 

In  establishing  the  average  cost  of  a  day’s  portion  of  the  above,  the  prices  given  in 
Vol.  XX.  of  the  U.  S.  Census,  in  10  shops  east  and  10  shops  west  of  Buffalo,  i860- 
1880,  have  been  averaged  for  each  year  designated.  These  prices  have  been  verified 
from  other  sources  of  information.  Prices  of  dry  goods  have  been  verified  fully. 
Prices  for  1885  and  ’86  have  been  derived  from  typical  establishments  and  from  market 
reports.  The  average  of  1885  and  ’86  was  probably  less  than  the  estimate  used. 


104 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


operatives  in  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States  cost  in  1880,  ’81,  and  ’82 
substantially  25  cents  per  day,  and  consisted  of  very  nearly  the  pro¬ 
portions  of  different  kinds  of  food  given  in  Table  A.  (page  103). 

The  consumption  of  dairy  products,  sugar,  tea,  and  coffee  given,  is 
probably  greater  than  in  other  parts  of  the  country  ;  but  if  a  deduction 
of  2  cents  per  day  be  made  for  this,  it  then  becomes  necessary  to  add 
3  cents  per  day  (probably  more)  to  account  for  the  known  average 
consumption  of  wine,  beer,  and  spirits.  (60,000,000  at  3  cents  per  day 
average  comes  to  $657,000,000.)  Recent  computations  put  the  cost  of 
liquor  to  consumers  $700,000,000. 

Although  the  actual  consumption  of  food,  cloth,  and  fuel  may  not  in 
any  single  case  have  corresponded  identically  with  these  standards,  yet 
it  may  be  safely  assumed  that  the  proportions  are  correct,  and  that  the 
variation  in  the  prices  of  what  has  been  actually  consumed  will  have 
corresponded  to  the  variation  in  the  prices  of  these  standard  articles 
and  quantities. 

For  convenience  in  computation  the  small  quantities  of  the  single 
ration  of  food  have  been  extended  so  as  to  cover  400  portions,  which 
may  be  taken  as  the  consumption  of  one  year  by  one  adult,  35  rations 
being  added  for  extras. 

CLOTHING. 


By  a  computation  made  by  the  writer  when  engaged  in  the 
compilation  of  the  Census  of  the  cotton  manufacture  of  the  United 
States  in  1880,  it  appeared  that  if  all  the  fibres  of  cotton,  wool,  silk,  and 
flax,  imported  or  raised,  were  carried  through  the  factories  and  then 


converted  into  "clothing,  carpets,  and  other  forms  for  final  use,  with  the 
imports  of  textile  fabrics  added,  the  average  consumption  of  textile 
fabrics  by  thepeople  of  this  country  in  that  year  w’as  substantially  $30 
worth  per  head,  of  which  about  $25  worth  was  for  clothing.  *  It  being 
impossible  to  set  up  a  standard  of  the  exact  cost  of  clothing,  certain 
quantities  of  cotton  and  woollen  cloth  have  been  taken  which  are  a 
little  above  the  average  consumption  of  the  whole  country.  In  a  final 
computation,  cloth  is  converted  into  clothing  at  the  ratio  of  three  parts 
materials,  and  two  parts  for  manufacturing  and  distributing. 

In  this  computation  I  have  made  great  use  of  the  XXth  Volume  of 
the  United  States  Census.  It  was  prepared  by  Mr.  Joseph  D.  Weeks, 
and  is  of  the  greatest  value  in  statistical  research. 


BOOTS,  SHOES,  AND  FUEL. 

The  standard  of  boots  and  shoes,  and  of  fuel  is  of  necessity  some¬ 
what  arbitrary.  It  has  been  set  at  two  pairs  of  men’s  heavy  boots,  as. 
the  equivalent  of  a  customary  supply,  and  one  and  one  half  tons  of  coal 
per  adult  per  year  ;  it  being  assumed  that,  as  the  prices  of  these  quan¬ 
tities  have  varied,  actual  use  and  cost  will  have  varied. 


Low  Prices ,  High  Wages ,  Small  Profits.  105 


T&e.  quantities  assigned  to  this  specific  standard  of  subsistence 
have  risen  and  fallen  in  the  following  proportions,  the  figures  repre¬ 
senting  so  many  cents  per  day  for  each  standard  portion,  and  the  lines 
representing  the  relative  variation  at  different  periods  : 

COST  OF  STANDARD  PORTIONS  OF  MATERIALS 


For  Food,  for  Clothing,  Boots  and  Shoes,  and  Fuel,  per  Day,  in  Each  Year  as  Designated. 


i860 

1865 

1870 

1875 

1880 

1885 

1886 


Materials  for  Food. 


22y^j-  cts. 

Qa  3  8_  “ 

38tof 

00  34  * * 

3  Jtoo 

29iVo  “ 
25t1o3e  “ 

22  “ 


Est. 


Materials  for  Clothing. 


i860 

1865 

1870 

1875 

1880 

1885 

1886 


4tVo  cts- 


44 


I0foV 

C  07  << 

5toF 

A  3  8  << 

4tff 

A  12  “ 

4ioo 

„  60  “ 
DIOO 


Est. 


Boots  and  Shoes. 

Fuel. 

i860 

T  5  0 
Moo 

cts. 

i860 

O  06 

Mfo 

cts. 

1865 

2 

4  4 

— 

1865 

A  87 

4to  0 

4  ( 

. 

1870 

T  7T 

ITFF 

4  4 

— 

1870 

0  37 

Jloo 

4  < 

= — 

1875 

8  7 
-TOE 

4  4 

1875 

3 

4 

— 

l88o 

T  75 
■"■Too 

a 

— 

l88o 

r,  25 

Mo  0 

4  4 

— 

W  M 

co  00 
CO  00 
Oca 

T  60 
Mof 

“  Est. 

— 

1885  l 

1886  j 

o  5  0 

Moo 

“  Est. 

— 

It  is  doubtless  true  that  the  goods  reported  upon  in  the  several  shops  from  whose  reports  the  prices 
have  been  derived,  may  have  varied  somewhat  in  quality  ;  but  the  questions  put  by  Mr.  Weeks  were 
in  such  form  that  in  nearly  every  case  the  prices  are  given  for  specific  qualities  of  each  kind  of  food, 
as  for  instance  :  Flour,  grade  “  extra  family  ”  ;  coffee,  “  Rio,  roasted  ”  ;  sugar,  several  grades — I  have 
selected  a  medium  ;  tea,  “  Oolong,  or  good  black,”  etc.,  etc.  These  prices,  taken  from  20  shops— 10 
east  and  10  west — have  been  averaged,  and  the  results  compared  with  other  price-lists,  many  of  which 
the  writer  has  himself  procured. 


It  may  be  objected  that  this  standard  portion  is  only  the  one  which 
is  customarily  consumed  by  each  adult  in  the  families  of  well-to-do 
mechanics  or  factory  operatives  in  the  Eastern  or  Middle  States,  and 
that  it  may  not  be  a  fair  measure  of  those  who  are  above  this  class,  or 
of  those  who  are  much  below  them.  This  may  be  admitted  ;  but 
nevertheless  all  prices  of  the  necessities- of  life  must  have  varied  sub¬ 
stantially _as _thesejrt|md^  Moreover  this  final 

fall  in  the  prices  of  products  at  their  final  point  of  consumption  could 
not  have  occurred  had  not  the  prices  of  the  metals,  of  the  machinery, 
and  of  the  whole  mechanism  of  production  and  distribution  also  fallen. 
Sometimes  prices  of  invested  capital  have  fallen  even  in  greater 
measure  than  the  prices  of  the  products.  It  is  only  here  and  there  that 
any  important  article  like  timber  can  be  found,  which  having  become 
more  scarce,  has  either  maintained  its  price  throughout  the  period,  or 
is  even  a  little  higher  now  than  it  was  in  i860. 

If,  then,  all  prices  have  fallen  and  all  profits  have  diminished  while 
wages  have  risen,  each  subject  to  temporary  fluctuation  and  variation. 


1 06 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation 


must  we  not  seek  for  deeper  causes  for  the  changes  in  the  conditions 
of  society  and  in  the  relations  of  men  to  each  other  than  are  commonly 
assigned  in  the  explanation  of  such  phenomena  ? 

I  now  submit  adequate  proof  of  the  facts.  The  subsequent  table 
gives  the  purchasing  power  of  wages  at  different  dates,  when  converted 
.into  standard  portions  of  food,  cloth,  and  fuel  as  established. 

The  quantities  represented  in  these  tables  are  assumed  to  have  been 
established  on  the  basis  of  actual  consumption  of  a  well-to-do  mechanic 
in  New  England  in  the  period  of  1880,  ’8i,  and  ’82.  If  we  convert  the 
money  assigned  to  each  portion  of  food,  fuel,  clothing,  etc.,  into  400 
portions  corresponding  to  one  year’s  consumption,  with  a  margin  of 
ten  per  cent,  for  extras,  we  get  the  following  results  : 


COST  FOR  ONE  YEAR. 


ONE  PERSON. 


'Food  for  one  adult . $100 

Materials  for  clothing .  16 

Boots  and  shoes .  7 

Fuel .  9 


FOUR  PERSONS. 

Food  for  four  adults 1 . $400 

Materials  for  clothing .  64 

Boots  and  shoes .  28 

Fuel . 36 


Gain  in  the  purchasing  power  of  wages,  measured  by  the  number  of  portions  of  the  materials  for 
food,  clothing,  boots  and  shoes,  and  fuel,  which  one  year’s  work  would  buy  at  different  periods  :  300 
working  days  to  one  year.  Each  portion  consisting  of  the  same  quantities  and  corresponding  to  the 
daily  consumption  of  mechanics  in  New  England  and  in  the  Middle  States,  as  determined  by  close 
inquiry  on  the  part  of  Bureaus  of  Labor  Statistics,  and  of  the  writer. 


Class  I. — Specially  Skilled  Men  :  Foremen,  Overseers,  Boss  Blacksmiths,  Carpenters,  etc., 
Customarily  Earning  $3.00  to  $5.00  per  Day  at  the  Present  Time. 


Year. 

Aver¬ 

age, 

per 

day. 

Average, 
per  year, 
300  days. 

Cost 
of  day’s 
portion. 

Purchasing  power  in  number  of  portions. 

i860 

$2.45 

$735-oo 

30T<fF  c*s- 

69  “ 

55xt)  o' 

2374 

T865 

3-57 

1071.00 

I920 

1870 

4-34 

1302.00 

An  5  3  4  ^ 

43too 

3000 

1875 

4.14 

1242.00 

aft  69  “ 

3°toF 

3210 

. 

1880 

4.14 

1242.00 

00  24  “ 

JJIOO 

3737 

1885  \ 

1886  f 

Probably  higher 

Est.  30  cts. 

Not  less 

than 

in  1880. 

or  less. 

than  4000 

Class  II. — Average  Mechanics  :  Engineers,  Blacksmiths,  Carpenters,  Machinists,  and 
Painters  Connected  with  Establishments  Reported  in  Vol  XX.  of 
the  Census  1865  to  <B8o  Inclusive. 


Average, 

Average, 

Year. 

per  day. 

per  year. 

Cost  of  portion. 

Purchasing  power. 

i860 

$1.56 

$468.00 

3°to5«t  c^s- 

1572 

1865 

2-34 

702 . 00 

CC  fi9  “ 

55ThTt 

1261 

1870 

2,43 

747 . 00 

43T5A  “ 

1716 

1875 

2.29 

687.00 

SE 

p- 

co 

cn 

1776 

l88o 

2.26 

678.00 

on  24  ^  ^ 

33to(7 

2040 

1885  } 

1886  f 

Est.  2.40 

720.00 

Est.  30  cts.  or  less. 

Est.  2400 

1  Or  for  man  and  wife,  one  child  over  twelve,  and  two  under  twelve. 


Low  Prices ,  High  Wages ,  Small  Profits. 


107 


Class  III. — All  the  Operatives,  except  Foremen  and  Overseers,  in  ioo  Establishments 
Reporting  the  Wages  of  their  Working  People  under  More  than  1200  Separate 
Titles:  Bricks,  Marble,  Furniture,  Agricultural  Implements,  Tin  Ware,  Stoves, 
Boots,  Hats,  Cars,  Wagons,  Flour-  and  Saw-Mills,  Iron,  Paper,  and  Textiles, 
Employing  Men,  Women,  and  Children,  from  20  to  2000  in  Each. 


Average, 

Average, 

Cost  of  uniform  portions, 

Year. 

per  day. 

per  year. 

food,  cloth,  and  fuel. 

i860 

$i-33$399-oo 

30y*(yV  c*-s- 

1865 

1.88 

564.OO 

5  5  TOUT  “ 

1870 

1.94 

582.OO 

43t5oV  “ 

1375 

i-77 

531-00 

38&V  “ 

1880 

1. 71 

513-00 

33t2oV  “ 

1885  l 

1886  j 

Est.  1.80 

540.00 

Est.  30  cts.  or  less. 

Purchasing  power  in  number  of  portions. 


Class  IV. — Laborers,  Computed  Separately,  Connected  with  above  Establishments. 


Average, 

Average, 

Cqst  of  uniform  portions, 

Y  ear. 

per  day. 

per  year. 

food,  cloth,  and  fuel. 

Purchasing  power  in  number  of  portions. 

i860 

$1.01 

$303-00 

3°tt)5o  cts. 

980 

1865 

I.56 

468 . OO 

55toT7 

840 

1870 

I.58 

474.00 

43A%  “ 

IO9O 

1875 

I.38 

414.OO 

38t6o9u  “ 

1070 

1880 

i-34 

402 . OO 

00  2  4  *  * 

33toTT 

1210 

1885  ) 

Est.  1.40 

420.00 

Est.  30  cts.  or  less. 

1400 

1886  f 

The  portions  consist  of  uniform  quantities  of  the  same  kinds  of  food,  cloth,  etc.,  and  fuel  bought 
at  retail  prices.  The  wages  from  i860  to  1880,  inclusive,  are  averaged  from  a  large  number  of  returns 
contained  in  Vol.  XX.  of  the  U.  S.  Census,  compiled  by  Joseph  D.  Weeks. 


The  cost  of  making  and  trimming,  or  of  converting  the  cloth  into 
clothing,  would  be  for  converting  these  specific  quantities  : 


For  one  adult . $10 

For  four  adults .  40 


These  elements  constitute  on  the  average  seventy  per  cent,  of  the 
expenditure  of  a  family  such  as  has  been  taken  as  an  example.  We 
may  add 

For  rent . eighteen  to  twenty  per  cent . $37-50  $150 

For  sundries  . .  .twelve  to  ten  per  cent .  20.50  82 

Totals . .per  adult ,  $200  ;  per  family ,  $800 

If  we  take  the  example  of  a  mechanic  sustaining  himself,  wife,  one 
child  over  twelve  years,  and  two  under  twelve  counted  as  one  adult, 
an  average  family  of  five  persons  counted  as  four  adults,  an  expendi¬ 
ture  of  $800  per  year  would  call  upon  the  head  of  the  family  to  earn 
$2.67  per  day  for  three  hundred  working  days  in  the  year. 

It  will  be  remarked  that  this  standard  has  been  reached  theoretically, 


Increased  Purchasing  Power  of  One  Year’s  Wages  Compared  by  Percentage  of  Gain  on  Each  Class. 


io  8 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


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on  the  basis  of  facts  derived  from  obser¬ 
vations  entirely  independent  of  the  actu¬ 
al  statistics  of  the  family  expenditure 
gathered  by  Commissioner  Carroll  D. 


Wright,  as  Chief  of  the  National  Bureau 
of  Labor  Statistics,  and  until  lately  also 
of  Massachusetts.  On  comparing  these 
theoretic  estimates  with  these  statistics, 
they  are  found  to  correspond  so  closely 
with  the  actual  facts  gathered  from  many 


families,  as  to  sustain  the  substantial  ac¬ 
curacy  of  the  proportions  of  the  cost  of 
living,  the  price  of  food  being  exactly 
one  half. 

In  the  returns  which  have  been  made 
use  of  in  compiling  the  tables  given  in 
this  treatise,  there  are  doubtless  reports 
of  prices  of  goods  which  do  not  exactly 
correspond  to  others  either  in  kind  or 
quality  ;  but  so  many  returns  have  been 
averaged  as  to  eliminate  this  cause  of 
error.  I  have  made  many  computations 
on  single  returns  of  prices  in  special 
places  procured  by  myself,  and  I  find 
that  the  proportional  variations  corres¬ 
pond  so  closely  to  the  average  of  all  as 
to  establish  the  standard  conclusively. 

In  fact,  the  reduction  in  the  cost  of 
subsistence  and  the  increase  in  the  pur¬ 
chasing  power  of  wages  in  the  East  have 
been  greater  than  in  the  West,  and  great¬ 
er  than  the  average  of  the  whole  country,, 
doubtless  owing  to  the  equalizing  force 
of  the  railroads  in  diminishing  the  cost 
of  food.  I  may  give  one  example  for 
which  I  have  collated  all  the  figures 
myself  in  order  to  verify  the  compila¬ 
tions  of  the  census.  In  this  example  I 
have  taken  the  year  1866  as  a  starting- 
point,  and  a  cotton-mill  as  the  example. 
It  is  not  a  fair  year  to  show  an  average 
in  other  arts,  because  the  conditions  of 
the  cotton  manufacture  were  very  un¬ 
certain  during  that  year  ;  and  it  was  also 


Low  Prices ,  High  Wages ,  Small  Profits. 


109 


in  the  year  1866  that  the  most  malignant  effect  upon  prices  and  wages, 
worked  by  the  substitution  of  legal-tender  notes  in  place  of  coin,  was 
experienced  in  the  United  States.  I  have,  however,  selected  a  year  in 
which  the  work  was  continuous  during  that  year  as  well  as  during  the 
year  1885 


The  average  earnings  of  all  the  hands  in  the  factory  through  the  year 

1866  were .  83  cents  per  day. 

In  1885 . 103  “  “  “ 

The  product  of  each  hand  in  pounds  of  cloth  was  in  1866 .  7  pounds  per  day. 

In  1885 . 13.34  “  “  “ 

The  cost  of  labor  in  the  pound  of  cloth  was  in  1866 . 11.85  cents. 

In  1885 .  7.67  “ 


The  cost  of  the  standard  portion  of  food,  clothing,  and  fuel  (sub¬ 
stituting  three  cords  of  wood  for  the  customary  portion  of  anthracite 
coal,  because  this  factory  was  in  a  position  where  wood  at  that  time 
was  cheaper)  was  : 


Daily  portion  of  food,  clothing,  and  fuel  in  1866,  cost . 57-82  cents  per  day. 

In  1885 . 30.97  “  “  “ 

The  purchasing  power  of  300  days’  wages  converted  into  these  standard 

portions  was  in  1866 .  430  portions. 

In  1885 . 1000  “ 


It  will  be  remembered  that  the  price  of  food  is  about  one  half  the 
price  of  life  to  the  class  of  persons  represented  in  this  example.  Other 
examples  have  been  computed  by  myself  from  private  data  in  respect 
to  the  condition  of  operatives  in  woollen-mills  and  machine  shops. 
They  show  the  same  law  ;  but  as  the  condition  of  the  woollen-mill  and 
the  machine  shop  was  somewhat  better  in  1866  than  that  of  the  cotton- 
mill,  the  ratio  of  progress  is  more  nearly  that  of  the  average  of  the 
whole  country  than  is  shown  in  this  particular  example. 

One  very  curious  point  is  brought  into  notice  by  an  analysis  of  the 
average  food  ration  of  the  American  workman.  All  the  pork  could  be 
spared,  and  yet  "the  daily  ration .  would  be  more  than  ample.  The 
waste  of  this  country  is  an  excess  of  fat  rather  than  an  excess  of  any 
other  part  of  the  food  consumed.  We  have  often  heard  “  the  Ameri¬ 
can  frying-pan  ”  denounced  ;  but  this  is,  I  think,  the  first  time  that  it 
has  been  subjected  to  a  scientific  condemnation. 

In  a  rough  and  ready  way  it  takes  five  pounds  of  western  corn  to 
make  a  pound  of  pork.  Even  the  hogs  do  not  consume  their  whole 
ration  ;  they  waste  a  part  of  it.  The  proportion  is  substantially  one 
thousand  pounds  of  Indian  corn  to  a  barrel  of  pork  weighing  two 
hundred  pounds.  In  this  conversion  nearly  all  the  starch  and  all 
the  protein  are  wasted,  and  the  fat  which  is  left  is  not  required  for 
use. 

The  necessary  deduction  is  this,  that  the  conversion  of  corn  into 
pork  is  an  absolute  and  total  waste  of  nutritious  food.  Far  better  that 


I  IO 


The  IncCustnaC  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


corn  should  be  converted  into  beef,  or  even  burned  for  fuel  (often  a 
very  economical  expedient  for  settlers),  rather  than  to  be  expended  in 
this  way. 

A  curious  question  arises  in  this  connection.  If  the  world  were 
convinced  that  the  Jews  were  right,  and  that  pork  ought  not  to  be 
eaten  ;  or  if  the  American  world  were  convinced  that  all  the  pork  that 
is  eaten  is  wasted,  what  would  be  the  effect  on  the  American  farmers  t 

Having  submitted  this  part  of  the  problem  to  Professor  Atwater,  he 
makes  the  following  remarks  thereon  : 

“  Taking  your  figures  for  quantities  of  shelled  c6rn  and  dressed  pork,  and  the 
most  reliable  data  I  can  find  for  their  composition,  I  obtain  the  following  figures  : 


GAIN  AND  LOSS  OF  NUTRIENTS  AND  POTENTIAL  ENERGY  IN  CONVERSION  OF  CORN  INTO  PORK. 


NUTRIENTS. 

POTENTIAL. 

ENERGY. 

Protein. 

Fats. 

Carbo¬ 

hydrates. 

In  1000  lbs.  of  corn . 

Pounds. 

IOO 

18 

Pounds. 

45 

85 

Pounds . 

680 

•  •  •  • 

Calories. 

16,400,000 

3,900,000 

In  200  lbs.  of  pork . 

Loss  or  grain . 

. 

82  loss 

40  gain 

680  loss 

12,500,000 

“  In  other  words,  the  fat  is  increased  by  40  pounds,  and  to  offset  this  there  is  a 
loss  of  82  pounds  of  protein  and  680  pounds  of  carbohydrates.  Estimated  in  potential 
energy,  the  loss  makes  over  three  fourths  of  the  whole. 

“  According  to  the  best  data  at  hand,  and  your  ration  agrees  with  them,  our  ordi¬ 
nary  dietaries  contain  an  excess  of  carbohydrates  (sugar,  starch,  etc.)  and  a  very  large 
excess  of  fat.  The  ‘  condensing  of  corn  into  pork,’  which  we  hear  of  as  ‘  useful  to  save 
cost  of  transportation  and  handling,  ’  means — 

“  First.  Practically  throwing  away  a  lot  of  protein,  the  most  valuable  of  the  food 
ingredients,  and  with  it  a  large  amount  of  carbohydrates. 

“  Second.  The  conversion  of  part  of  the  other  nutrients  into  fats,  so  as  to  in¬ 
crease  our  already  great  excess  of  this  material.” 

This  may  seem  a  somewhat  trifling  matter.  Let  us  see. 

Assuming  that  the  product  of  this  country,  at  its  market  value  for 
final  consumption  or  export,  cannot  exceed  $200  worth  per  person, 
$600  worth  for  each  group  of  three  of  whom  one  is  occupied  for  gain, 
or  $1000  worth  for  each  average  family  of  5  persons,  it  may  be 
assumed  that  not  exceeding  to  per  cent.,  or  $20  worth  a  year  per  cap¬ 
ita,  can  be  saved,  and  added  to  the  capital  of  the  country,  however 
such  capital  may  be  owned  individually  ;  5  to  6  per  cent.,  or  $10  to 
$12  a  year,  must  be  set  aside  to  meet  all  forms  of  taxation — national. 
State,  and  municipal.  There  remains  $168  @  $170  a  year,  which  con¬ 
stitutes  the  wage  fund,  it  being  manifest  that  the  source  of  all  wages, 
earnings,  taxes,  and  profits  must  be  the  annual  product,  whatever  that 
product  may  be. 


Low  Prices ,  High  Wages ,  Small  Profits. 


1 1  r 


If  these  sums  per  year  be  reduced  to  portions  per  day,  the  wages 
or  earnings  of  each  person  amount  to  a  fraction  over  46  cents  per  day, 
or  $1.38  for  every  day  in  the  year,  including  Sundays,  secured  by  one 
person  in  three  of  the  population  who  constitute  the  working  forces. 
Profits  amount  to  a  fraction  under  5-J  cents  per  day  ;  taxes  to  a  frac¬ 
tion  over  3  cents.  The  cost  of  the  excess  of  fat  and  sugar  in  the 
standard  ration  is  7  cents  out  of  25.  If  this  were  saved  and  applied 
to  shelter,  the  housing  of  the  working  people  would  be  solved. 

There  cannot  be  more  to  be  divided  than  all  there  is.  The  whole 
question,  therefore,  of  relative  welfare  and  poverty  consists  in  the 
manner  in  which  this  product  is  divided. 

The  only  way  in  which  any  great  gain  can  be  made  is  by  increasing 
the  quantity  of  product  while  decreasing  the  amount  of  capital  and  the 
hours  or  intensity  of  the  work  required  in  production,  or  else  saving 
what  is  now  wasted.  Any  other  method  of  distribution  that  could  be 
brought  about  might  not  very  greatly  improve  the  condition  of  any  very 
large  number  of  persons.  This  will  be  made  apparent  by  a  few  figures. 

If  the  sums  given  constitute  all  the  money’s  worth  there  is  to  be 
divided,  then  by  so  much  as  some  gain  more  must  others  gain  less. 
The  limit  of  all  that  is  produced  is  the  limit  of  all  that  can  be  divided. 

The  working  group  of  this  country,  as  I  have  stated,  is  substantially 
a  group  of  three.  One  person  in  each  three  is  occupied  for  gain,  sus¬ 
taining  two  others.  If  that  part  of  the  product  which  is  now  saved 
were  divided  equally  among  those  who  do  the  work,  it  would  add  only 
about  15  cents  a  day  to  the  income  of  each  one,  or  $54.75  each  year. 
In  the  present  population  of  about  sixty  million,  the  number  who  are 
engaged  in  gainful  occupation  is  twenty  million.  If  the  whole  sum 
saved  and  added  to  capital  were  divided  among  this  force  equally  at 
$54.75  each,  it  would  represent  a  little  more  than  $1,095,000,000. 

Suppose  this  sum  now  saved  were  equally  divided, — is  it  not  true 
with  regard  to  a  very  large  proportion  Of  those  who  do  the  work  that 
the  measure  of  their  income  is  also  the  measure  of  their  expenditure  ? 
Could  this  equal  division  then  be  made  without  leading  to  an  increased 
consumption  rather  than  to  additional  savings  on  the  part  of  the  many  ? 
If  so,  the  next  year’s  product  of  the  whole  country  would  suffer  for  lack 
of  capital.  It  sounds  like  a  paradox,  but  it  may  nevertheless  be  true, 
that  the  faculty  for  “  making  money,”  as  it  is  called, — that  is  to  say, 
the  instinct  that  leads  to  accumulation  on  the  part  of  the  few, — is  ab¬ 
solutely  necessary  to  the  comfortable  subsistence  of  the  many.  Dis¬ 
parity  in  the  possession  and  direction  of  capital  is  apparently  necessary 
to  its  effective  use — a  big  capital  in  the  hands  of  a  master  is  like  a.  big 
steam-engine  directed  by  a  competent  engineer  ;  each  compasses  three 
or  four  times  as  much  product  as  the  small  capital  held  by  many  per¬ 
sons,  or  several  small  steam-engines  each  wasting  fuel,  can  accomplish. 


I  I  2 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


It  may  not  be  the  disparity  between  rich  and  poor  which  is  the  sole 
cause  of  discontent. 

The  disparity  in  the  conditions  is  very  much  greater,  and  is  in¬ 
creasing  more  rapidly  among  those  who  constitute  the  “  working  class¬ 
es  ”  themselves,  in  the  narrow  use  of  that  term,  than  any  possible  dis¬ 
parity  between  the  capitalist  classes  and  the  working  classes  can  ever 
be  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  disparity  of  the  aggregate  income,  class  by  class, 
is  greater. 

The  capitalists  are  working  under  an  imperative  law  of  diminishing 
profits.  The  workmen  who  do  the  work  intelligently  and  skilfully  are 
progressing  under  an  imperative  rule  by  which  their  wages  are  increased 
while  the  purchasing  power  of  their  wages  is  yet  more  increased. 

Is  there  not  perhaps  a  more  subtle  but  very  potent  cause  of  dis¬ 
content  disclosed  by  the  great  disparity  in  the  progress  of  working 
people  themselves  to  the  exclusion  of  capitalists,  than  can  be  found  in 
the  disparity  of  fortunes  or  in  the  possession  of  capital  saved  ? 

In  the  following  table  the  relative  progress  of  four  classes  whose 
condition  has  been  fully  analyzed  is  graphically  pictured,  each  class  com¬ 
pared  to  the  other  by  the  relative  percentage  of  their  gain  since  i860  • 


f  &60 


<8Gs- 


r  8t<>  •/$?£'  t&So 


/SSf+t 

4000 


2400 

1800 

1400 


No.  I.  Foremen,  overseers,  boss  blacksmiths,  and  carpenters  or  other  workmen  of 
special  skill  and  aptitude. 

No.  II.  Average  mechanics,  engineers,  blacksmiths,  carpenters,  machinists,  paint¬ 
ers,  and  the  like. 

No.  III.  Average  workmen  or  women,  in  100  factories  or  workshops,  listed  under 
more  than  1200  titles, — bricks,  marble,  furniture,  tools,  stoves,  boots  and  shoes,  hats, 
cars,  wagons,  textiles,  iron-works,  paper-mills,  etc. 

No.  IV.  Common  laborers  connected  with  the  same  establishments. 

The  variation  in  the  respective  condition  in  these  classes  is  shown 
by  the  number  of  portions  of  food,  fuel,  boots,  and  materials  for  cloth- 


Loza  Prices ,  High  Wages ,  Small  Profits  1 1 3 

ing  which  one  year’s  earnings  would  purchase  in  each  of  the  years  desig¬ 
nated.  The  actual  working  of  these  changes  can  be  better  observed  by 
a  different  form  of  diagram  which  gives  the  facts  in  relation  to  all  the 
mechanics  covered  by  class  II  : 


The  malignant  effect  of  war  and  paper  money  is  shown  by  the  rapid 
rise  in  prices,  while  wages  slowly  followed.  After  the  war  wages  fell  slow¬ 
ly,  but  prices  fell  rapidly.  On  the  resumption  of  specie  payments,  wages 
again  began  to  rise — prices  continued  to  fall,  and  in  1885-6  the  purchas¬ 
ing  power  of  a  day’s  work  was  greater  than  it  ever  had  been  before. 

In  order  that  the  full  import  of  these  figures  maybe  comprehended, 
the  table  on  page  114  is  given,  including  a  computation  of  rent  on  the 
best  data  which  can  be  found. 

It  will  also  be  observed,  however,  that  while  work  has  been  contin¬ 
uous  since  1873  or  1865  for  all  men  of  special  skill  and  aptitude  (with 
very  rare  exception  for  some  short  and  exceptional  period),  and  while 
work  has  also  been  continuous  and  well  paid  for  every  intelligent 
mechanic  or  artisan  who  has  chosen  to  control  his  own  affairs  and  to 
make  his  own  bargains,  it  has  been  much  less  continuous  for  many 
classes  of  factory  operatives  of  a  lower  grade,  and  it  has  been  abso¬ 
lutely  intermittent  with  respect  to  great  numbers  of  common  laborers. 
One  of  the  penalties  which  society  must  pay  for  the  application  of 
science  and  invention  to  the  useful  arts  is  this  temporary  displacement 
of  unskilled  laborers  from  the  occupations  in  which  their  work  had 
been  previously  required,  but  which  is  no  longer  required  when  some 
new  machine  or  improvement  renders  it  unnecessary. 

On  the  other  hand,  without  these  applications  of  science  to  agri¬ 
culture  and  to  manufactures,  the  normal  increase  of  population  would 
without  question  tend  to  outrun  the  means  of  subsistence.  It  therefore 
follows  that  by  their  application,  while  the  few  are  for  a  time  left  be¬ 
hind  in  the  race,  the  many  gain  in  welfare  ;  the  means  of  subsistence 
rapidly  outrun  the  increase  of  population,  and  the  many  are  thus 
enabled  to  enjoy  better  and  better  conditions  of  life. 

Thus  the  problem  of  “  progress  and  poverty  ”  marches  alongside  the 
actual  progress  from  poverty.  This  problem  of  “  progress  and  poverty  ” 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


1 14 


calls  for  the  urgent  attention  of  the  student  and  the  statesman  in  order 
to  abate  the  great  disparity  of  condition  which  becomes  more  con¬ 
spicuous  the  more  the  general  progress  is  assured.  This  special 
branch  of  the  subject  cannot  be  treated  within  the  limits  of  the  present 
treatise,  but  may  be  taken  up  at  a  future  day. 

THE  FOOD,  CLOTHING,  RENT,  FUEL,  SUNDRIES.— RELATIVE  IMPORTANCE 

OF  EACH. 

By  a  comparison  of  the  average  of  all  these  elements  of  the  cost  of  living,  rent  being 
also  computed  on  the  most  adequate  data  which  are  available,  and  estimating  “sun¬ 
dries  ”  at  10  per  cent,  of  the  whole,  the  relative  importance  of  each  element  may  be 
comprehended. 


i860  to  1880  inc. 

Food,  per  day.  . . 

ry  ry  8  8 

22too 

@  3 Stiff* 

aver. 

o/v  8  8 

29xoo 

Clothing,  per  day, 

>,  50 
/ 100 

“  i6tVo 

<  < 

n  7  7 

9xo  <T 

Rent,  per  day. .  . 

6-6  0 
'-’lot) 

“  8tVo 

<  t 

►7  73 

7xof 

Fuel,  per  day.  .  . 

O  25 
2T30 

“  4xo  F 

<  c 

oil 

3xoF 

Sundries,  per  day 

k  60 

T  otal . 

56tVf 

Proportion  of  rent  paid  on  land,  assum¬ 
ing  house  and  land  equal  value.  .  .  .  StVo' 

Elements  of  the  cost  of  living  in  New  England  in  18S5  and  1886,  based  on  the 
prices  of  the  same  quantities  of  the  same  articles  computed  above,  mainly  from  census 
figures.  Prices  ascertained  by  the  writer  on  a  narrower  field  than  that  covered  by  the 
census. 

Food,  per  day .  22 

Clothing .  6tW 

Rent .  7 

Fuel . 

Sundries . 


r,  50 

2tof 

4tA 


Total .  42x3o8o 

Average,  i860  @  1880,  inclusive .  56xVf 

Estimate,  1885  and  1886 . 4 2 iff 


Total  reduction  in  1885-86 .  1 3x oF 


According  to  Prof.  Atwater’s  analysis,  the  ration  of  food  made  use  of  in  the  above 
computations  is  40  per  cent,  in  excess  of  what  is  needed.  All  the  pork,  and  one  half 
the  sugar,  or  one  half  the  potatoes  could  be  spared.  This  reduction  in  the  quantity  of 
food  would  reduce  the  present  cost  of  this  ration  from  22  to  15  cents  per  day.  If  the 
sum  thus  saved  in  food  were  expended  for  shelter,  the  whole  question  of  providing  bet¬ 
ter  dwelling-places  might  be  solved.  On  this  basis  the  proportion  would  be  : 

Food,  per  day .  15  cts. 


Clothing,  per  day  .  .  .  . .  6^-j- 


14 


,  50 


Rent .  . 

Fuel . 

Sundries .  4to7 

Total  cost  of  subsistence  per  day .  42to8f 

The  importance  of  the  food  question  could  not,  I  think,  be  more  clearly  enforced. 


”5 


Low  Prices ,  High  Wages ,  Small  Profits. 

We  will  now  take  up  some  of  ..the  theories  which  have  been  set  up 
in  the  endeavor  to  explain  the  fall  in  prices  since  1873.  Subsequent 
to  the  year  1850,  and  either  accompanying  or  perhaps  caused  in  part 
by  the  very  sudden  and  very  great  addition  of  gold  to  the  volume  of 
the  money  metals  of  the  world,  there  was  a  great  advance  in  the  prices 
of  all  the  necessities  of  life,  subject,  of  course,  to  temporary  fluctuations. 
This  period  of  general  advance  in  prices  culminated  in  the  years  1872 
and  1873,  reductions  in  the  prices  of  cotton  and  of  some  other  articles 
having  begun  before.  Since  1873  a  great  and  general  reduction  of 
prices  has  taken  place  the  world  over.  What  has  been  called  depres¬ 
sion  has  been  more  common  than  activity  in  commerce.  These  long 
periods  of  depression  have  affected  nearly  all  commercial  and  manu¬ 
facturing  countries  alike,  without  much  apparent  regard  to  their  system 
of  taxation  ;  to  their  standard  of  value,  whether  it  has  been  based  on 
gold  only,  on  silver  only,  or  on  both  metals  ;  or  whether  the  standard 
of  value  has  been  a  paper  substitute  for  true  money. 

It  happens  that  during  this  period,  dating  from  1873,  all  the  import¬ 
ant  changes  in  legislation  respecting  legal  tender  have  occurred,  yet 
the  great  international  commerce  of  the  world  has  proceeded  in  its 
customary  way,  because  it  is  not  possible  to  apply  acts  of  legal  tender 
to  international  exchanges  ;  therefore  this  branch  of  commerce  has  been 
conducted  on  a  solid  basis  of  a  given  weight  of  the  metal  gold.  But 
notwithstanding  the  stability  of  the  gold  standard  of  international  com¬ 
merce,  great  fluctuations  have  occurred,  and  periods  of  depression  have 
affected  international  commerce  as  well  as  the  domestic  commerce  of 
many  countries. 

Since  1873  Germany  has  displaced  silver  from  its  function  of  legal 
tender  ;  the  Latin  Union  soon  ceased  the  coinage  of  silver  ;  the  United 
States  have  resumed  specie  payment  upon  a  gold  basis  ;  Italy  has  also 
resumed  specie  payment.  All  these  changes  have  doubtless  tended  to 
the  use  of  gold  as  the  unit  of  value  of  full  legal  tender  among  the  so- 
called  civilized  countries  of  the  world.  Yet  all  these  changes  com¬ 
bined  have  required  the  substitution  of  gold  for  other  forms  of  money 
only  in  the  bank  reserves  of  Germany  and  in  the  sub-treasury  of  the 
United  States.  Silver  has  not  been  demonetized  anywhere.  It  is  still 
money  in  a  true  sense  in  England,  Germany,  and  France,  as  well  as  in 
India,  Africa,  and  South  America.  The  only  change  brought  about  by 
legislation  has  been  in  the  substitution  of  a  single  kind  of  money  as  full 
legal  tender,  for  two  kinds. 

But  it  has  been  assumed  by  many  writers  of  repute  that  these 
changed  conditions  in  acts  of  legal  tender  must  have  caused  a  steady 
and  slow,  but  unceasing  appreciation  in  the  value  of  gold  as  compared 
to  all  other  commodities,  silver  included. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  held  by  many  writers  of  repute  that  the  vast 
store  of  gold  which  has  been  added  to  the  money  metal  of  the  world 


1 1 6  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 

since  1850  has  not  only  actually  depreciated  gold,  but  has  also  caused 
a  yet  greater  depreciation  in  the  value  of  silver,  under  the  well- 
established  rule  that  a  substitution  of  a  better  article  for  common  use 
may  displace  a  substance  of  a  poorer  kind,  and  may  cause  the  latter 
kind  to  lose  a  part  of  its  value,  even  if  the  product  of  the  latter  be 
very  much  less  in  proportion  than  that  of  the  former. 

Such  are  the  facts  in  regard  to  gold  and  silver.  The  addition  of  gold 
since  1850  has  been  vastly  greater  than  the  addition  of  silver. 

The  computed  production  of  gold,  1849  to  1884,  inclusive,  has  been 
$3,882,975,000.  That  of  silver,  $2,250,375,000. 

This  reference  to  the  money  metals  is  secondary  to  the  main  pur¬ 
pose  of  calling  attention  to  an  entirely  different  class  of  price-making 
factors.  Under  the  conditions  which  have  been  presented,  the  battle 
of  the  standards  has  been  waged  with  great  virulence  ;  but,  perhaps,  in 
consequence  of  this  contest  too  little  attention  has  been  given  to  the 
really  great  forces  which  have  been  in  action,  and  which  have  caused 
the  reduction  in  prices  which  are  so  apparent. 

The  discussion  of  what  I  call  the  price-making  factors  will  be 
mainly  limited  to  the  conditions  which  prevailed  in  the  United  States. 
For  this  reason,  since  1865  there  has  been  no  war  and  no  great  prepa¬ 
ration  for  war  to  alter  the  influence  of  the  forces  which  make  for  peace 
and  plenty.  In  Europe,  on  the  other  hand,  actual  wars,  or  enormous 
preparations  for  war,  have  altered  all  the  conditions. 

The  change  in  prices  in  this  country  since  i860  must,  of  course,  be 
in  part  attributed — 

First.  For  a  limited  period  to  the  forced  circulation  of  paper  sub¬ 
stitutes  for  money  which  depreciated  in  value. 

Second.  To  the  restoration  of  the  value  of  the  previously  depreciated 
paper  to  the  standard  of  the  only  legal  unit  of  value  in  this  country, — 
to  wit,  the  dollar  made  of  gold. 

No  writer  or  observer  of  any  repute  has  ever  contested  the  fact  that 
the  rapid  substitution  of  legal-tender  notes  for  coined  money  always 
causes  the  depreciation  of  such  notes  and  an  increase  in  prices. 

This  sudden  change  in  the  standard  of  value  is  very  different  from 
the  slow  and  steady  addition  of  a  very  small  annual  percentage  of  pre¬ 
cious  metal  to  the  previously  existing  stock,  however  large  the  volume 
of  such  addition  of  metal  may  appear  to  be  when  computed  separately, 
year  by  year.1 

In  the  tables  which  I  have  given,  the  malignant  effect  of  the  substi¬ 
tution  of  depreciated  legal-tender  notes  for  true  money  is  made  appa¬ 
rent  by  the  much  more  rapid  rise  in  prices  than  in  wages  or  earnings 

1  It  has  been  for  many  years  about  half  per  cent,  of  gold  and  half  per  cent,  of 
.  silver,  which  has  been  added  year  by  year  to  the  existing  volume  according  to  the  esti¬ 
mates  of  Henri  Cernuschi. 


Low  Prices ,  High  Wages ,  Small  Profits.  1 1  7 

from  i860  to  1865,  thereby  greatly  diminishing  the  purchasing  power  of 
labor.  Since  that  difficulty  has  been  surmounted  in  part  or  wholly,  the 
purchasing  power  of  labor  has  greatly  increased,  gaining  steadily  the 
nearer  the  specie  standard  has  been  attained,  and  gaining  yet  more 
steadily  the  more  closely  it  has  been  adhered  to. 

It  may  well  be  asked,  if  the  reduction  in  the  prices  of  the  necessi¬ 
ties  of  life  could  be  attributed  to  a  scarcity  of  gold,  would  not  wages  or 
earnings — that  is,  the  price  of  labor — have  been  reduced  in  the  same 
proportion  ? 

May  it  not  be  held  that  labor  in  the  concrete  form  of  commodities, 
or,  as  we  might  say,  in  the  passive  form  of  commodities,  could  not  be 
reduced  in  price  by  any  such  cause  as  a  scarcity  of  gold  without  labor 
in  the  active  form  of  work  in  the  production  of  commodities  being  also 
reduced  in  price  ?  If  the  true  cause  of  the  reduction  in  prices  has  been 
an  appreciation  or  rise  in  the  value  of  the  metal  gold,  would  it  not  of 
necessity  have  happened  that  the  price  of  labor  would  have  been 
affected  in  the  same  way  ?  Would  not  the  price  of  real  estate  have  also 
been  affected  in  the  same  way  ? 

Again,  if  the  cause  of  the  reduction  in  prices  had  been  an  increased 
scarcity  of  gold,  would  not  capital,  when  measured  by  the  gold  stand¬ 
ard,  have  been  able  to  secure  to 'itself  a  constantly  increasing  rate  of 
interest  or  income  ? 

Now  it  happens  that,  in  the  United  States,  in  so  far  as  the  specie 
standard  of  value  has  been  departed  from  has  the  purchasing  powrer  of 
labor  become  less,  while  the  earning  power  of  capital  has  become 
greater  ;  conversely,  in  the  exact  measure  that  the  specie  standard  has 
been  adhered  to  and  sustained  has  the  purchasing  power  of  labor 
become  greater,  and  the  earning  power  of  capital  less. 

Important  as  the  settlement  of  the  contest  between  those  who  sus¬ 
tain  the  double  standard  of  gold  and  silver  with  the  advocates  of  the 
single  gold  standard  admittedly  is,  yet  it  is  held  that  the  battle  of  the 
standards  cannot  be  settled  without  a  full  consideration  of  all  the  other 
factors  which  tend  to  alter  prices  to  which  reference  is  made  in  this 
article. 

Although  the  war  of  the  Rebellion  required  the  work  directly  or  in¬ 
directly  of  one  in  three  of  all  men  of  arms-bearing  age  throughout  the 
country,  yet  during  this  period  there  was  no  decrease  in  the  production 
of  articles  necessary  to  subsistence,  with  the  single  exception  of  cotton. 
This  fact  gives  evidence  of  the  vast  progress  which  must  have  been 
made  in  the  application  of  science  and  invention  to  all  the  useful  arts. 
The  abnormal  demands  of  war  counterbalanced  in  some  degree  the 
malignant  influences  of  the  substitution  of  paper  promises  for  true 
money  ;  yet  the  prices  of  all  commodities  advanced  very  rapidly,  while 
wages  advanced  much  more  slowly. 


/ 


1 1 8  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


After  the  war,  production  gained  immediately  and  enormously  on 
population  in  respect  to  food,  fuel,  metals,  and  fibres.  Wages  ceased 
to  advance  in  rates  by  the  measure  of  money,  but  the  money  ceased  to 
depreciate.  The  armies  of  both  parties  in  the  conflict  were  absorbed 
in  the  pursuits  of  industry  within  less  than  a  year  from  the  end  of  the 
war.  In  spite  of  this  increase  in  the  supply  of  labor,  as  soon  as  the 
policy  of  the  government  began  to  tend  toward  the  resumption  of  spe¬ 
cie  payments,  on  or  about  1870,  although  the  prices  of  both  commod¬ 
ities  and  labor  began  to  decline  in  their  nominal  rates,  yet,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  purchasing  power  of  wages — that  is,  the  absolute  wages  of 
labor — began  to  increase  with  great  rapidity.  The  value  of  a  day’s 
labor  to  him  who  exerted  it,  yielded  more  and  more  of  the  necessities 
and  comforts  of  life  as  the  years  went  by.  Presently  wages  began  to 
advance  again,  but  prices  continued  to  decline. 

In  a  previous  number  of  The  Century ,  I  have  given  a  table  showing 
the  increased  product  of  railway  mileage  and  of  property  insured 
against  fire  between  1865  and  1885. 1  Objection  has  been  taken  to  the 
date  of  1865  as  the  starting-point,  upon  the  ground  that  in  that  year 
the  country  had  not  surmounted  the  difficulties  and  retardation  of  the 
Civil  War.  In  the  year  1870,  however,  all  the  causes  of  retardation 
growing  out  of  the  war  had  been  removed,  and  the  country  was  fairly 
headed  toward  the  resumption  of  specie  payments,  which  took  place  on 
the  tst  of  January,  1879.  A  table  showing  our  progress  since  1870  is 
therefore  given  now  : 


Gain  in  Population,  Production,  Wealth,  and  Savings  1870  to  1885  and  on  Some  Items  to  1886. 


To 

1885 

1885 

1885 

1885 

1885 

1885 

1885 

1886 

1885 

1885 

1885 

1886 
1886 


Population . 

Production  of  grain . 

Consumption  of  cotton  .  .  . 
Consumption  of  wool  .  .  .  . 

Production  of  hay . 

Deposits  in  savings-banks 

of  Massachusetts . 

Production  of  cotton . 

Deposits  in  savings-banks 

of  Massachusetts . 

Production  of  iron . 

Insurance  of  property 

against  loss  by  fire . 

Miles  of  railroad . 

Miles  of  railroad . 

Production  of  iron . 


In  considering  these  relative  gains,  it  will  be  observed  that  they,  represent  a  constant  gain  in  the 
means  of  subsistence  over  population— that  with  the  exception  of  the  increase  in  personal  wealth,  which 
is  indicated  by  the  increase  in  the  amount  of  property  insured  against  loss  by  fire,  they  represent  the 
progress  of  the  million  in  the  means  of  common  welfare  rather  than  of  the  millionaire  in  personal 
wealth,  and  that  they  give  testimony  to  the  beneficent  law  of  progress  from  poverty. 


While  wages  have  risen,  the  earning  power  of  capital  has  decreased. 
The  actual  reduction  in  the  earning  power  of  capital,  considered 
simply  by  itself,  may  be  represented  by  the  current  rate  of  interest  ; 
the  discount  on  the  very  best  commercial  paper  at  four  or  six  months’ 
date  at  different  periods  may  be  taken  as  a  standard  of  the  actual  earn¬ 
ing  power  of  capital. 


1  See  pages  58  and  66  of  this  work. 


Low  Prices ,  High  Wages,  Small  Profits.  1 1 9 

Prior  to  the  financial  panic  of  1857,  almost  all  the  staple  manufactures 
of  the  country  were  sold  on  6,  8,  10,  and  sometimes  12  months’  credit. 
After  the  commercial  panic  of  1857,  and  up  to  1861  at  the  opening  of  the 
war,  the  current  credit  was  four  months.  During  the  war,  and  up  to 
about  1870,  the  traffic  of  the  people  was  mainly  conducted  on  a  cash 
basis,  personal  credit  being  rendered  very  uncertain  by  the  variation 
in  the  value  of  paper  substitutes  for  money.  The  instruments  of 
exchange  consisted  of  the  depreciated  notes  of  the  United  States. 
Bills  of  goods  were  rendered  on  ten  to  thirty  days  ;  but  commercial 
notes  disappeared  almost  wholly  from  the  market. 

Since  1870  there  have  been  many  variations  in  the  customs  of  trade. 
In  some  kinds  of  business,  notes  have  been  given  for  actual  purchases  ; 
in  others  none  such  have  been  given,  but  money  has  been  borrowed 
in  other  ways  ;  as,  for  instance,  the  large  manufacturing  corporations 
of  the  east  have  borrowed  their  working  capital  upon  notes  of  the  cor¬ 
poration,  indorsed  or  guaranteed  either  by  their  officers  or  by  the  com¬ 
mission  houses  selling  their  goods,  such  notes  being  negotiated  in  the 
open  market  at  four  or  six  months,  or  placed  in  savings-banks. 

From  1848  to  i860  the  writer  kept  a  record  of  transactions  by  him¬ 
self  or  by  his  associates  in  manufacturing  corporations.  The  average 
rate  of  discount  paid  in  the  open  market  by  the  corporations  enjoying 

the  highest  credit  during  this  period  was  eight  per  cent.,  subject  to 

» 

very  considerable  fluctuations.  From  i860  to  1869,  inclusive,  the  rates 
of  discount  varied  greatly  with  the  circumstances  of  each  case.  The 
war  and  the  continued  issue  of  legal-tender  notes  rendered  any  stand¬ 
ard  of  little  moment.  Railway  corporations  issued  bonds  at  long 
date,  at  rates  of  interest  from  7  to  8  per  cent.;  even  as  high  as  10  per 
cent,  was  paid  by  railroad  corporations  of  great  strength  and  sound 
credit.  In  1870  the  slow  restoration  of  specie  payment  began.  Up  to 
1873,  the  year  of  panic,  the  rate  of  interest  on  the  best  manufacturing 
notes  was  on  the  average  six  and  one  half  per  cent. 

After  the  panic  of  1873  ended,  up  to  the  1st  of  January,  1879,  five 
per  cent,  was  the  rate.  Since  the  restoration  of  the  specie  standard  at 
the  latter  date,  down  to  the  present  time,  the  fluctuations  in  the  rate  of 
discount  on  the  very  best  commercial  notes  have  been  3  to  5  per  cent.; 
and  by  the  actual  record  of  a  broker  doing  a  very  large  business,  they 
have  averaged  4  per  cent,  on  6  months’  paper. 

By  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Lyman  J.  Gage,  of  Chicago,  I  have  obtained 
the  rates  of  discount  on  commercial  paper  at  that  point.  They  are 
about  the  same  in  their  proportion,  having  been  reduced  from  an  aver¬ 
age  of  10  per  cent,  or  over,  to  an  average  of  5  per  cent,  or  less  between 
the  dates  i860  and  1886.  On  Western  farm  mortgages  the  change  has 
been  much  greater.  Twenty-five  years  ago  rates  as  high  as  25  per  cent, 
were  paid  on  mortgages  of  Western  land,  on  what  has  proved  to  be  ex- 


120  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 

cellent  security.  The  rate  now  charged  is  seven  per  cent,  and  even 
less. 

This  immense  abundance  of  capital  seeking  investment,  and  the 
equalization  of  the  rates  of  interest  between  the  East  and  the  West, 
may  be  attributed  more  to  the  railway  service  and  to  the  reduction  in 
freight  charge  than  to  any  other  single  factor  affecting  the  interest  of 
capital.  The  whole  country  has  become  a  close  neighborhood,  each 
part  sustaining  the  other,  so  that  the  distribution  of  capital  has  be¬ 
come  more  and  more  uniform  throughout  the  country,  except  in  States 
whose  public  credit  is  still  bad.  So  long  as  the  public  credit  is  bad  in 
any  community,  the  rate  of  interest  on  private  capital  will  be  very  high. 

The  effect  of  changes  in  the  railway  service  is  witnessed  by  the 
subsequent  table. 

In  considering  this  reduction  in  the  charge  on  railways,  it  must  be 
remembered  that  a  very  large  portion  of  these  railways  built  since  1865 
have  taken  the  place  of  wagon  roads,  or  of  what  are  known  in  the  West 
as  “  dirt  roads,”  so  that  the  saving  to  the  people  of  the  United  States 
by  the  mere  existence  of  the  new  roads,  whatever  they  may  charge,  is 
much  greater  than  the  mere  reduction  of  their  charges  since  they  came 
into  existence  ;  but  the  latter  saving  is  so  big  that  any  thing  else  may 
be  disregarded. 

Reduced  to  the  unit  of  the  individual,  the  saving  in  the  cost  of  rail¬ 
way  service  amounts  to  $13.67  per  head  of  the  population  each  year, 
or  a  fraction  under  $60  a  year  for  every  family  of  5  persons.  This  sum 
would  have  paid  all  the  taxes  which  have  been  assessed  throughout  this 
period  by  the  people  of  the  United  States  for  national,  State,  county, 
city,  and  town  expenditures,  including  that  part  of  the  taxation  which 
has  been  applied  to  the  reduction  of  debts,  whether  national,  state,  or 
municipal. 

Or  we  may  put  this  in  another  way.  A  sum,  representing  the  sav¬ 
ing  of  the  last  four  years  only,  as  compared  to  the  rates  of  1865-68, 
would  doubtless  have  sufficed  to  cover  the  cash  cost  of  the  construction 
of  the  100,000  miles  of  new  railway  built  between  January  1,  1865, 
and  January  1,  1887,  at  an  average  cost  of  $30,000  per  mile. 

In  a  previous  article  in  The  Century  it  has  been  demonstrated  that 
all  our  present  crops,  or  products  from  land  which  is  under  the  plow, 
omitting  those  which  are  derived  from  pasturage,  have  been  derived 
from  a  little  over  300,000  square  miles  of  land. 

Now  between  the  dates  January  1,  1865,  and  January  1,  1887,  more 
than  100,000  miles  of  railway  have  been  constructed.  If  we  lay  out  a 
strip  of  land  only  5  miles  in  width,  alongside  each  of  these  new  lines,  it 
would  cover  an  area  of  10  miles  by  100,000,  or  1,000,000  square  miles  of 
land, — three  times  as  much  as  is  now  under  the  plow,  of  which  every  acre 
has  been  brought  within  less  than  five  miles  of  a  railway  since  the  year  1 865 . 


Law  Prices ,  High  Wages ,  Small  Profits. 


1 2 1 


As  this  is  one  of  the  most  important  lines  of  investigation  I  venture 
to  repeat  certain  tables  which  were  printed  in  my  report  upon  Bimetal¬ 
lism  in  Europe  made  in  October,  1887,  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States  (Executive  Document,  No.  34,  Government  Printing-Office). 
These  tables  bear  witness  to  the  paramount  influence  of  the  railway 
system  of  the  country  in  enabling  the  government  to  resume  specie 
payments  and  in  reducing  the  price  of  food  to  consumers  (pp.  122,  123, 
124).  While  these  great  price-making  factors  have  been  working  out 
their  just  results  in  the  United  States,  the  charge  for  moving  food  across 
the  sea  by  steamships  has  been  reduced  in  almost  as  great  a  measure. 
The  substitution  of  the  screw  for  the  side-wheel,  the  construction  of 
large  vessels  made  of  steel,  and  the  use  of  the  compound  engine  of  two 
cylinders,  now  supplemented  by  the  triple  compound,  the  opening 
of  the  Suez  Canal,  and  other  new  forces  applied  to  distribution,  have 
altered  all  the  conditions  in  Europe  as  well  as  in  this  country. 

Only  a  passing  reference  can  be  made  in  this  article  to  other  price¬ 
making  factors.  This  department  has  been  very  fully  treated  in  a  recent 
pamphlet  by  Mr.  Wm.  Fowler,  LL.B.,  whose  article  upon  the  alleged 
appreciation  of  gold,  lately  published  by  the  Cobden  Club,  is  one  of 
the  most  satisfactory  treatises  yet  issued. 

Among  the  other  forces  which  have  tended  to  reduce  prices  during 
the  last  twenty-years,  is  the  Bessemer  process  for  making  steel,  since 
supplemented  by  the  “  basic  process,”  which  latter  process  has  brought 
the  phosphoric  iron  mines  of  Germany  into  full  production,  previously 
almost  useless  ;  the  application  of  gas  for  fuel ;  the  use  of  natural  gas 
for  the  same  purposes  in  this  country  ;  improvements  in  agriculture  in 
the  use  of  the  buggy-plow,  the  gang-plow,  etc.,  the  self-binder  attached 
to  the  reaper  ;  such  improvements  in  all  the  textile  arts  that  one  opera¬ 
tive  now  performs  all  the  textile  work  that  could  be  done  by  two  or 
more  twenty-five  years  ago  ;  the  improvements  in  the  use  of  machine 
tools  applied  to  all  arts  ;  and  the  like. 

In  point  of  fact,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  one  half  as  much 
capital  as  was  required  to  do  the  general  work  of  life  in  1865  will  now 
suffice  to  aid  labor  in  compassing  the  same  amount  of  product.  That 
is  to  say,  it  took  twice  as  many  dollars’  worth  of  capital  to  accomplish 
a  given  product  twenty  or  twenty-five  years  since  as  is  now  needed. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  owner  of  the  capital  is  now  compelled, 
whether  he  will  or  not,  to  be  satisfied  with  one  half  the  income  on  each 
unit  or  dollar’s  worth  of  the  present  capital,  if  he  trusts  only  to  his 
capital  for  his  means  of  living. 

Even  in  the  matter  of  the  use  of  gold,  reference  might  be  made  to 
the  economy  brought  about  in  banking  and  exchange  ;  the  use  of  the 
telegraph  and  the  like  ;  the  saving  of  time  in  the  transportation  of  com¬ 
modities  ;  all  of  which  subjects  are  fully  treated  in  Mr.  Fowler’s  essay. 


THE  FOOD  PROVIDERS. 

Pennsylvania,  Pittsburg,  Fort  Wayne  and  Chicago,  New  York  Central  and  Hudson  River,  Lake  Shore  and  Michigan  Southern,  Michigan  Central,  Boston  and  Albany, 

New  York,  Lake  Erie,  and  Western  Railroads.  Graphically  compiled  by  Edward  Atkinson,  from  a  pamphlet  by  Henry  V.  Poor. 


122 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


123 


Low  Prices ,  High  Wages ,  Small  Profits. 


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A  graphical  statement,  showing  the  ef&ect  of  the  reduction  in  the  charge  for  moving  provisions  long  distances  at  the  lowest  possible  rates,  in  enabling  farmers  to  sell  grain 
and  meat  for  export  which  could  not  otherwise  have  been  sold  at  all,  thereby  bringing  about  the  restoration  of  specie  payments.  The  balance  of  exports  over  imports  for  ten 
years  has  consisted  wholly  of  farm  products. 


I  24' 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


Loiv  Prices ,  High  Wages ,  Small  Profits. 


125 


Merchandise  traffic  of  all  the  railways  of  the  United  States  in  1885  ;  authority, 
Poor’s  Railway  Manual,”  1886  : 

Tons  moved .  437,040,099 

Tons  moved  1  mile .  49,151,894,469 

Charge  for  service .  $519,690,992 

Rate  per  ton  per  mile . cents.  .  1*057 

Twenty-seven  trunk  lines  which,  separately  or  in  combination,  centre  in  Chicago 
from  the  West,  or  connect  Chicago  with  the  Eastern  seaboard  : 

Tons  moved .  185,320,709 

Tons  moved  I  mile .  25,125,076,247 

Charge  for  service .  $219,872,732 

Rate  per  ton  per  mile . cents.  .  .875 

All  other  lines  : 

Tons  moved . 251,719,390 

Tons  moved  1  mile . 24,026,818,222 

Charge  for  service .  $299,818,260 

Rate  per  ton  per  mile . cents.  .  1.248 

Measure  of  this  service  per  head  of  population  and  per  family  : 


Lines. 

Tons  per 
person 
per  year. 

Distance 

hauled. 

Charge 
per  per¬ 
son. 

Charge  per 
family  of 
five  persons. 

Twenty-seven  trunk  lines . 

All  others . . . 

3*252 

4.420 

Miles. 

136 

95i 

$3.68 

5.26 

$18.40 

26.30 

Total . . 

7.672 

IITi 

Average. 

$8.94 

$44.70 

The  average  charge  per  ton  per  mile  on  the  27  trunk  lines  in  the  years  1865  to  1868, 
inclusive,  exceeded  that  of  1885  by  1.635  cents.  At  this  rate  of  excess,  applied  to  the 
whole  traffic  of  the  United  States,  all  .other  lines  having  made  a  greater  reduction, 
so  far  as  the  data  can  be  had  the  sum  saved  in  the  year  1885  was  $803,633,477. 

The  whole  service  of  all  the  railroads  in  1885  consisted  in  moving  42  pounds  a  day 
of  food,  fuel,  fibres,  and  fabrics,  a  distance  of  miles  for  each  man,  woman,  and 
child  of  the  population,  or  1,470  pounds  a  week  for  a  family  of  five.  The  average 
charge  to  each  person  was  a  fraction  under  2\  cents  per  day,  or  87^  cents  per  week 
for  each  family  of  five. 

The  27  trunk  lines  treated  in  the  foregoing  tables  perform  about 
one  half  the  freight  service  of  the  United  States.  The  average 
charge  per  ton  per  mile  on  those  lines,  1866  to  1873,  inclusive, 


was . 2.315  cents  per  ton. 

1874  to  1885 . . 1.196  “  “ 


Difference . .  1.119  “ 

Had  the  actual  traffic  of  those  lines  from  1874  to  1885  been  charged 
the  difference,  the  amount  of  such  additional  charge  would  have 
been  over . .\ . $1,756,000,000 

The  excess  of  exports  over  imports  in  this  same  period  was . $1,574,021,528 

It  thus  appears  that  the  reduction  in  the  railway  charge  taken  by  itself  without 
regard  to  other  reductions  in  the  cost  of  production  and  distribution,  sufficed  to  enable 
this  country  to  resume  specie  payment  in  1879. 


In  fact,  if  all  the  changes  which  have  been  worked  by  the  elimina¬ 
tion  of  time  and  distance  from  the  conduct  of  affairs  were  to  be  consid¬ 
ered,  it  would  require  a  volume  instead  of  an  article  to  picture  them. 


126 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


It  thus  appears  that,  while  the  purchasing  power  of  a  day’s  or  a 
year’s  labor  has  increased  since  i860  from  40  to  70  percent,  according 
to  the  grade*or  skill  of  the  workman,  and  from  66  to  108  per  cent,  since 
1865,  and  while  the  earning  power  of  capital,  considered  without  regard 
to  the  skill  of  its  owner,  has  diminished  absolutely  one  half  and  rela¬ 
tively  at  least  75  per  cent,  since  i860,  there  have  yet  been  periods  when 
it  has  been  difficult  for  many  workmen  to  find  work,  when  also  capital 
could  not  find  employment,  and  when  there  was  want  in  the  midst  of 
abundance. 

Can  these  faults  in  the  present  forms  and  methods  of  society  be 
remedied  by  legislation,  by  cooperation,  by  profit-sharing,  or  by  the 
state  assuming  more  and  more  the  control  and  direction  of  the  forces 
of  Capital  ?  These  are  questions  which  demand  an  answer. 

That  there  has  been  grave  discontent  on  the  part  of  labor,  and  a  want 
of  that  true  comprehension  of  what  may  rightly  be  called  “  the  claims  of 
labor”  on  the  part  of  many  capitalists,  may  not  be  denied. 

What  are  some  of  the  causes  of  this  discontent,  and  how  shall 
admitted  wrongs  be  righted  ? 

It  is  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  that  the  application  of  machin¬ 
ery  in  special  arts  often  causes  the  displacement  of  the  craftsman,  the 
hand-worker,  or  the  common  laborer  who  has  been  trained  in  that  art, 
and  who  finds  it  difficult  to  adjust  himself  to  new  conditions.  This 
fact,  which  has  been  a  matter  of  common  observation  in  single  arts,  has 
affected  nearly  all  the  arts  of  life  in  the  last  twenty-five  years  more  pro¬ 
foundly  than  ever  before.  There  have  been  single  great  inventions, 
like  the  application  of  steam,  which  have  gravely  altered  the  conditions 
of  society  ;  but  there  have  probably  never  been  so  many  applications  of 
science  and  invention  to  the  common  arts  of  life  as  have  been  applied 
in  the  present  generation,  nor  has  any  single  one  ever  been  so  potent  in 
modifying  and  changing  all  the  conditions  of  society  as  the  sinking  of 
time  and  distance  in  the  fraction  of  a  cent  a  ton  on  a  mile  of  railway. 

In  this  country,  where  these  great  new  forces  have  been  more  free 
to  act  than  in  any  other,  there  are  certain  facts  which  must  be  admitted 
by  every  one  competent  to  observe.  Leaving  wholly  out  of  view  the 
transfer  of  property  already  saved  from  one  person  to  another  in  the 
gambling  operations  of  the  stock  exchange,  such  incidents  being  of  no 
material  consequence  except  to  those  who  engage  in  them,  we  may 
observe  : 

First.  That  the  direction  and  use  of  capital  are  becoming  more 
and  more  a  matter  of  scientific  training,  as  the  margin  of  profit  in  every 
art  comes  to  a  less  and  less  fraction  of  the  product  made  or  distributed. 
The  merchant  adventurer  has  gone  the  same  way  with  the  craftsman 
and  his  apprentice — he  has  disappeared  with  the  removal  of  the  mys¬ 
teries  of  trade.  * 


Low  Prices ,  High  Wages ,  Small  Profits . 


127 


Second.  Although  great  fortunes  have  become  more  conspicuous, 
their  number  is  very  small,  and  their  aggregate  amount  is  yet  smaller 
in  proportion  to  the  amount  and  great  number  of  moderate  fortunes 
which  are  not  conspicuous  but  which  are  steadily  increasing. 

Third.  Adjacent  to  every  city  are  suburbs  or  neighboring  towns 
which  are  filled  with  comfortable  dwellings  of  moderate  size,  which 
give  evidence  of  comfort  and  welfare  steadily  increasing  on  the  part  of 
an  increasing  portion  of  those  who  perform  the  practical  work  of  the 
country.  These  are  the  dwelling-places  of  their  respective  owners  or 
occupants,  who  are  not  capitalists  in  any  sense,  but  who  have  assured 
to  themselves  an  abundant  subsistence,  a  horrid,  and  a  safe  position  in 
the  community. 

Fourth.  While  great  bonanza  farms  are  conspicuous,  they  are  also 
few  in  number  ;  the  increase  in  small  farms  is  very  rapid  ;  and  perhaps 
the  increase  has  been  yet  more  rapid  compared  to  what  it  had  been 
before  agricultural  machinery,  science,  and  invention  had  come  nearer 
to  the  farm. 

Fifth.  By  comparison  with  this  rapid  progress  not  only  of  those 
who  are  in  a  position  of  wealth,  but  of  the  vast  number  who,  although 
not  making  great  savings,  are  living  year  by  year  more  comfortably, 
better  housed,  better  clothed,  and  better  fed,  the  bad  condition  of  the 
very  poor,  and  the  more  uncertain  position  of  the  common  laborer 
whose  opportunity  for  work  is  intermittent,  becomes  more  apparent 
and  therefore  demands  urgent  attention. 

If  such  are  the  facts  which  are  disclosed  by  the  actual  observation 
of  the  conditions  of  men,  and  confirmed  by  the  deductions  drawn  from 
them  in  this  and  other  cities,  do  we  not  find  in  the  very  gain  in  the 
purchasing  power  of  wages  a  cause  of  an  increasing  disparity  in  the 
conditions  of  those  who  class  themselves  as  “  working  people,”  in  a 
limited  sense  ?  and  may  not  this  be  one  of  the  grave  causes  of  discon¬ 
tent,  even  though  all  have  made  some  progress  ?  Is  it  not  apparent  that 
while  the  very  poor  are  proportionately  no  more  numerous,  and  the 
ratio  of  common  laborers  to  others  is  no  greater,  yet  within  the  lives  of 
men  who  are  not  yet  beyond  middle  age,  great  numbers  among  the 
workmen  themselves  have  seen  those  who  started  on  nearly  the  same 
plane,  and  who  in  i860  could  earn  but  little  more  than  their  fellows, 
yet  in  1885  and  ’86,  raised  far  above  them  in  their  condition,  although 
still  classed  as  fellow-workmen  ? 

To  him  who  has  had  the  capacity,  either  mental,  mechanical,  or 
manual,  to  take  advantage  of  the  opportunity  afforded  by  science  and 
invention,  has  been  given  the  greatest  progress  ;  while  from  him  who 
has  not  the  mental  or  manual  aptitude  to  adjust  himself  to  the  new 
conditions,  has  been  taken  even  th^  opportunity  for  common  labor 
which  he  enjoyed  before. 


128  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  ATation. 

Do  we  not  witness  in  the  various  organizations  of  labor,  so  called, 
an  attempt  to  equalize  this  growing  disparity  ?  It  is  often  claimed  that 
“  equal  work  is  entitled  to  equal  pay  ”  ;  but  the  difference  in  the 
quality  of  the  work  may  not  be  overlooked.  The  attempt  is  made  to 
control  the  hours  of  labor  by  various  artificial  methods.  In  respect  to 
minors,  and  possibly  in  respect  to  women  so  long  as  they  do  not  vote, 
such  laws  may  be  necessary.  Other  attempts  are  made  by  establishing 
stated  lists  of  prices,  by  limiting  the  quantity  of  work  to  that  done  by 
any  one  man,  by  limiting  the  number  of  apprentices,  and  by  other 
similar  methods,  to  equalize  the  material  conditions  of  men.  But  all 
these  efforts  fail  wholly  or  partly.  An  equal  quantity  of  work  meas¬ 
ured  only  by  the  time  devoted  to  it  or  by  the  actual  amount  of  work 
required  in  it,  never  has  and  never  will  secure  equal  results.  It  is  not 
in  the  nature  of  things.  It  is  the  efficiency  of  labor  that  tells,  not  the 
quantity  or  time.  One  man  will  waste  more  leather  in  a  given  time  by 
want  of  aptitude  or  skill  in  its  use  than  another  man  will  convert  into 
good  and  useful  boots  and  shoes.  Profit  may  be  defined  as  the  margin 
which  mind  gains  over  muscle.  This  is  as  true  of  the  higher  gain  in 
skilful  work  when  done  by  the  piece  as  in  the  use  of  capital  already 
saved. 

The  result  of  all  these  artificial  methods  to  control  conditions  which 
rest  upon  individual  capacity,  when  even  partly  enforced,  is  to  level 
down  the  earnings  of  the  industrious  and  the  capable  to  the  plane  of 
the  unskilful  or  lazy. 

When  this  truth  dawns  upon  the  mind  of  the  discontented,  then  the 
trade  organization  or  association  soon  changes  its  course  and  begins  to 
promote  the  development  of  individual  capacity  ;  it  becomes  a  common 
school  in  social  science  ;  its  members  soon  find  out  what  a  really 
beneficent  force  may  be  developed  by  organizing  labor. 

I  have  endeavored  to  present  the  great  price-making  forces  which 
have  been  evolving  progress  from  poverty  during  the  present  genera¬ 
tion,  and  I  may  again  repeat  what  I  have  often  had  occasion  to  state. 
The  necessary  conclusions  to  which  we  are  led  are  : 

First.  When  organized  capital  is  placed  at  the  service  of  labor,  it  be¬ 
comes  more  and  more  effective,  while  in  amount  it  diminishes  in  ratio 
to  product.  It  therefore  secures  to  its  own  use  a  diminishing  portion 
of,  or  profit  from,  an  increasing  product.  This  is  the  economic  law, 
so  called,  of  diminishing  profits. 

Second.  Organized  labor,  when  each  member  is  left  free  to  avail  him¬ 
self  of  every  opportunity  which  capital,  science,  and  invention  place 
at  his  disposal,  secures  to  itself  an  increasing  share  of  an  increasing 
product  or  its  equivalent  in  money. 

Third.  As  capital  and  labor  become  more  under  the  control  of 
common  intelligence  they  cannot  help  becoming  more  closely  allied  ; 


Low  Prices,  High  Wages ,  Small s  Profits.  129 

■under  these  conditions  high  wages  or  large  earnings  in  money,  or  in 
what  money  will  buy,  become  the  necessary  result  or  reflex  of  the  low 
cost  of  production. 

Fourth.  A  low  cost  of  production  accompanied  by  high  wages  is 
most  fully  assured  by  the  application  of  science  and  invention  to  all 
the  arts  of  production  and  distribution.  Pauper  labor  so  called,  may 
be  dreaded  only  by  those  who  possess  pauper  intelligence.  The  com¬ 
petition  which  is  really  to  be  courted  and  emulated  is  that  which  is 
represented  by  the  art  schools  of  France,  the  weaving  schools  and  the 
like  of  Germany,  the  trade  schools  and  the  industrial  schools  which 
have  spread  more  rapidly  in  England  in  recent  years  than  they  have 
in  this  country.  Skill  and  intelligence,  free  from  the  burden  of  stand¬ 
ing  armies  and  of  war  taxes,  may  command  the  commerce  of  the 
world. 

The  present  population  of  the  globe  is  computed  at  about  1,400,- 
000,000  ;  of  these  only  about  400,000,000  belong  to  what  may  be  called 
the  machine-using  nations.  One  billion  do  their  work  by  hand,  or  by 
the  use  of  rude  tools  guided  by  the  hand. 

In  a  peaceful  contest  for  commerce  with  these  nations,  who  will 
win  ?  Certainly  that  nation  will  not  win  which  obstructs  the  import  of 
the  crude  products  which  are  all  that  these  non-machine-using  nations 
can  give  in  exchange  for  what  they  need,  by  imposing  heavy  taxes 
upon  such  products  when  they  enter  the  ports  of  our  country. 

But  when  all  has  been  accomplished  which  can  be  done  by  law  or 
by  association,  or  by  the  repeal  of  obstructive  acts,  there  will  still  re¬ 
main  centres  of  pauperism  in  our  cities  ;  they  exist  mainly  among  those 
of  foreign  birth  who  cannot  adjust  themselves  to  the  new  conditions  to 
which  they  are  subjected.  There  will  also  continue  to  be  periods 
when  common  laborers  will  find  it  difficult  to  obtain  work.  How  shall 
we  meet  these  admitted  faults  ?  Is  there  any  other  way  than  by  adapt¬ 
ing  the  methods  of  common-school  education  more  nearly  to  the 
necessities  of  life  ?  If  it  is  true  that  one  cannot  permanently  help 
either  men  or  women  who  cannot  help  themselves,  is  it  not  equally  true 
that  classes  in  society  in  considerable  numbers  cannot  be  raised  from 
a  state  of  dependence  upon  others,  except  by  the  development  of  each 
member  of  such  class  to  a  knowledge  of  some  art  by  which  he  can  sus¬ 
tain  himself,  even  if  it  be  only  a  training  in  the  application  of  the  hand 
itself  to  useful  work  ? 

Nine  tenths  of  the  occupations  of  the  people  of  this  country  in  point 
of  number  still  depend  upon  the  individual  capacity,  the  mental 
development,  the  mechanical  aptitude,  or  the  manual  dexterity  of  each 
person.  Only  one  in  ten  is  occupied  in  a  great  factory  where  the  con¬ 
duct  of  the  work  depends  upon  the  minute  subdivision  of  labor. 

Does  not  this  fact  bear  witness  to  the  necessity  of  promoting  the 

Q 


130  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 

development  of  the  individual  in  order  that  common  welfare  may  be 
attained  by  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  community  ? 

What  can  the  state  do  for  its  citizens  in  helping  them  to  obtain  sub¬ 
sistence,  if  the  people  who  constitute  the  state  are  themselves  in¬ 
capable  of  sustaining  their  own  families  under  present  conditions  ? 

Neither  the  state  nor  the  nation  possesses  property.  The  state  only 
controls  the  property  of  its  citizens  by  right  of  eminent  domain.  It 
can  take  property  under  the  due  process  of  law  for  public  use,  with 
compensation  to  him  who  owns  it.  It  can  tax  all  property  in  order  to 
maintain  governments.  It  may  tax  all  property  in  order  to  perform 
certain  useful  functions  which,  by  common  consent,  the  state  can  per¬ 
form  in  its  corporate  capacity  better  than  the  citizens  can  in  their 
individual  capacity.  But  the  state  as  state  has  no  productive  power, 
and  it  is  upon  the  annual  product  that  all  depend  alike. 

In  this  country  at  the  present  time  there  is  and  can  be  no  lack  of 
most  abundant  product.  We  waste  every  year  enough  to  sustain 
another  nation  half  as  numerous,  if  not  equal  in  number.  The  mech¬ 
anism  of  distribution  is  more  than  ample  ;  yet  there  is  want  in  the 
midst  of  plenty. 

Progress  from  poverty  is  the  common  rule.  “  Progress  and  poverty  ” 
is  the  marked  exception,  conspicuous  and  dangerous.  In  one  sense 
every  man  is  his  brother’s  keeper.  If  he  neglects  his  duty  and  cares 
not  for  his  neighbor,  the  tax-gatherer,  at  least,  will  find  him  out  and 
will  compel  him  to  do  at  the  greatest  cost  what  perhaps  he  might  have 
accomplished  at  the  least  cost,  had  he  himself  realized  his  own  respon¬ 
sibility. 

There  is  one  thing  no  man  can  invent,  and  that  is  a  form  of  society 
in  which  the  rights,  whether  of  the  rich  or  of  the  poor,  shall  not  be 
accompanied  by  corresponding  duties.  He  who  treats  these  economic 
problems  without  taking  the  moral  and  ethical  side  of  life  into  consid¬ 
eration  may  rightly  be  called  a  representative  of  “  a  dismal  science.” 
But  it  by  no  means  follows  that  we  must  seek  to  reconstruct  humanity 
in  our  effort  to  form  society.  The  subject  of  economic  science  is  man 
as  he  now  is,  with  all  his  faults,  his  selfishness,  and  his  failings.  It 
was  said  of  old  time  that  “  surely  the  wrath  of  man  shall  praise  thee.” 
Might  not  the  prophet  of  the  present  affirm  with  equal  insight :  “  The 
power  which  makes  for  righteousness  compels  not  only  the  enlightened 
self-interest  of  man,  but  his  very  selfishness,  to  work  out  the  progress 
of  humanity  ?  ” 

The  commerce  of  the  world  now  turns  from  one  side  of  the  globe 
to  the  other  on  a  margin  of  a  cent  on  a  bushel  of  grain,  a  dollar  a  ton 
of  metal,  a  quarter  of  a  cent  a  yard  on  a  textile  fabric,  or  the  sixteenth 
of  a  cent  a  pound  on  sugar.  The  cube  of  coal,  as  I  have  before  stated, 
which  would  pass  through  the  rim  of  a  quarter  of  a  dollar,  when  used 


Low  Prices ,  High  Wages ,  Small  Profits.  131 

in  connection  with  the  compound  engine,  will  drive  a  ton  of  food  and 
its  proportion  of  the  steamship  two  miles  on  its  way  from  the  producer 
to  the  consumer  ;  by  the  invention  of  the  triple  compound,  one  fourth 
even  of  this  fuel  has  been  saved. 

The  profit  or  loss  of  this  great  nation  turns  on  the  price  of  a  daily 
glass  of  lager  beer. 

When  this  article  is  read,  five  cents  a  day,  more  or  less,  to  each  in¬ 
habitant  of  the  country,  will  represent  $1,095,000,000  worth  of  prod¬ 
uct,  which  may  be  either  saved  or  wasted  according  to  the  measure 
of  the  intelligence  of  each  person.  The  profit  which  might  be  repre¬ 
sented  by  this  sum  of  money  may  be  diminished  one  half  by  the  igno¬ 
rance  of  legislators  who  take  no  cognizance  of  the  facts  of  life  when 
framing  the  statutes  by  which  they  undertake  to  regulate  and  control 
an  organism  which  yet  makes  its  way  steadily  onward  with  greater  or 
less  effort,  whatever  may  be  the  system  of  laws  by  which  its  progress  is 
either  helped  or  hindered. 

These  computations  are  submitted  for  what  they  are  worth.  They 
are  probably  as  near  to  the  facts  as  it  would  be  in  the  power  of  any 
private  student  to  bring  them,  whose  opportunity  for  study  or  for 
treating  these  questions  is  very  limited. 

In  the  attempt  to  comprehend  the  laws  of  social  science  by  reading 
and  studying  treatises  upon  political  economy,  the  writer  long  since 
met  the  difficulty  which  would  be  apt  to  occur  to  a  business  man, — to 
wit,  the  necessity  for  a  statement  of  accounts  and  a  trial  balance.  In 
the  attempt  to  make  such  a  statement  and  to  balance  the  accounts  of 
one  class  with  another,  and  of  one  branch  of  industry  with  another,  he 
has  himself  come  to  certain  conclusions  which  coincide  very  closely 
with  the  modern  teaching  of  political  science. 

The  science  of  life  does  not  consist  in  laissez  faire ,  or  letting  alone. 
There  are  many  objects  which  may  be  better  attained  by  the  state, 
town,  or  city  undertaking  them  than  they  could  if  left  to  individual  or 
corporate  enterprise.  There  are  many  others  which  it  is  often  pro¬ 
posed  to  have  the  state  assume,  which  are  utterly  beyond  the  functions 
of  the  state  in  its  corporate  capacity  to  manage. 

Among  the  prime  factors  which  make  or  mar  material  prosperity 
there  are  grave  differences.  The  conclusion  of  the  writer  is,  like  that 
of  all  the  economists  whose  works  have  any  standing  among  men,  that 
tampering  with,  or  debasing  the  standard  of  value  is  the  most  malig¬ 
nant  fraud  which  the  government  can  perpetrate.  The  cost  of  substitut¬ 
ing  paper  notes  for  true  money  under  the  stress  of  war  added  without 
question  to  the  cost  of  the  civil  war  as  much  as  the  whole  sum  of  out¬ 
standing  debt  yet  unpaid.  The  most  beneficent  factor  in  the  lowering 
of  prices  and  in  raising  wages  has  been  the  extension  of  the  railway 
system  and  the  reduction  in  the  charge  for  the  service.  Vanderbilt 

•  1 


1 32 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation 


was  the  typical  railroad  man  of  his  day;  he  was  also  the  great  com¬ 
munist  of  his  time,  because  he  reduced  the  cost  of  removing  a  barrel 
of  flour  a  thousand  miles  to  so  small  a  sum  that  it  can  hardly  be  meas¬ 
ured  in  a  loaf  of  bread,  at  a  margin  of  profit  to  himself  and  his  asso¬ 
ciates  which  is  now  less  than  the  value  of  the  empty  barrel  at  the  end 
of  the  line.  The  heavy  taxes  which  we  are  now  paying  are  but  a  slight 
burden  upon  the  people  ;  so  long  as  they  can  be  applied  to  the  pay¬ 
ment  of  the  public  debt,  they  may  be  justified,  however  unscientifically 
and  injudiciously  the  acts  for  collecting  them  may  be  framed. 


EXAMPLES  OF  REDUCTIONS  IN  PRICE— REDUCTION  IN  COST  OF  LABOR— RISE 
IN  RATE  OF  WAGES  AND  INCREASE  IN  PURCHASING  POWER  OF  WAGES. 

Standard  Cotton  Sheeting. 


Year. 

Price  per 
yard. 

Cost  of  labor 
per  yard. 

Earnings 
per  year. 

Purchasing  power  in  food,  cloth,  and  fuel. 

i860 

8.17  cts. 

0.095  cts. 

$207.00 

669 

1865 

50.61  “ 

1. 501  “ 

234.00 

420 

— — 

1870 

14-33  “ 

I.425  “ 

275.00 

632 

1875 

9.79  “ 

I-3I4  “ 

280.00 

721 

1880 

7.40  “ 

O.O93  “ 

260.00 

782 

1885 

6-55  “ 

O.O95  “ 

284.00 

IOI4 

Suit  of  Furniture  for  a  Bedroom. 


Year. 

Price  per 
suit. 

Cost  of  labor 

Earnings. 

Purchasing  power  in  food,  cloth,  and  fuel. 

i860 

1865 

1870 

1875 

1880 

$35.00 

55-00 

33-00 

28.00 

20.00 

$12.00 

18.00 

II. OO 

10.00 

8.00 

$456.00 

678.OO 

687.OO 

723.OO 

723.OO 

1473 

121/ 

1578 

1868 

2175 

"  . 

One  Dozen  Steel  Axes,  Day  Wage,  Rations  Food  only  per  Day. 


Year. 

Price. 

Cost  of  labor 

Day’s 

wage. 

Rations  food  only. 

i860 

$11.00 

$2.28 

$1.70 

6.25 

1865 

20.50 

3.12 

2.27 

5-39 

1870 

14.50 

2-93 

2-35 

6.41 

187=; 

II  ^O 

2.46 

2.04 

2  T*7 

6  on 

1880 

8.50 

2.26 

8.76 

In  this  example  the  prices  of  food  in  the  same  county  have  been  computed  as  a  standard. 


A  Horse-rake. 


Year. 

Price. 

Cost  of  labor 

Day’s 

wage. 

Rations  food  only. 

1865 

$35-00 

$3-36 

$i-93 

4-53 

1870 

32.00 

2.87 

2.12 

5-54 

1875 

28.00 

2-53 

1.90 

5-92 

1880 

24.00 

2.  IO 

1.76 

7.01 

Compiled  from  Vol.  XX.  U.  S.  Census  by  Joseph  D.  Weeks  ;  computed  by  Edward  Atkinson, 
and  verified  by  comparison  with  other  authorities. 

Could  space  be  spared,  examples  of  the  same  kind  could  be  added  from  almost  every  indus¬ 
try  to  which  modern  machinery  has  been  applied,  but  these  must  suffice. 


Lozv  Prices ,  High  Wages,  Small  Profiis .  i  33 

Whatever  may  be  the  opinions  or  theories  of  each  reader  upon 
these  various  problems  upon  which  every  voter  in  a  free  country  must 
pass  whether  he  will  or  no,  it  is  held  that  there  can  be  no  true  solution 
unless  it  is  based  upon  facts.  It  has  been  the  purpose  of  the  writer  in 
this  series  of  Century  articles  to  give  these  facts  rather  than  to  present  his 
own  theories  ;  to  ask  questions  rather  than  to  attempt  to  answer  them. 

It  may  be  suitable  to  submit  a  very  few  examples,  which  will  be 
found  on  the  preceding  page,  proving  how  the  rule  of  diminishing  prices, 
decreasing  profits,  and  diminishing  cost  labor  has  been  consistent 
with  the  general  rise  in  the  rates  of  wages  and  in  their  purchasing  power. 
This  principle  would  of  necessity  be  deduced  from  all  the  tables  which 
have  already  been  submitted  ;  but  a  few  specific  examples  may  be  a  mat¬ 
ter  of  curious  interest,  and  will  fully  sustain  it. 


.  . 

,  '4'" 


7 


■ 

••  ■  •-  •  ■  ■  .  •  “  ,  ■  . 


/  \  '  . 


' 

' 


,  •  .  .  3 

** 

,  -Vi  ■  i 

. 


■ 


I  IS; 


■ 


■ 


.  -• 


V 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  PRODUCTS 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  PRODUCTS. 


L 


HOW  CAN  WAGES  BE  INCREASED?  1 


AS  mv^bpok  upon  “  The  Distribution  of  Products,”  which  consists 
mainly  of  an  essay  on  u  What  Makes  the  Rate  of  Wages?” 
is  now  passing  to  its  fourth  edition,  and  is  attaining  a  wide  circulation, 
I  am  very  glad  to  find  it  reviewed  by  Mr.  Frederick  B.  Hawley,  in 
the  Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics  for  Aprils  1888,  published  for 

Harvard  University. _ If  there  are  any  important  errors  either  in  th 

theory  or  in  the  figures  which  are  presented  in  this  essay,  I  greatly  de¬ 
sire  to  correct  them.  From  this  review  and  from  some  previous  notices 
of  the  book  I  have  been  led  to  believe  that  I  have  not  made  the  rea¬ 
sons  for  my  conclusions  as  plain  as  I  might  have  ;  I  therefore  beg  to 
repeat  the  main  propositions  which  I  have  attempted  to  sustain,  and 
to  give  more  conclusive  proofs,  if  I  may  do  so,  that  these  propositions 
are  correct. 

The  fundamental  idea  of  the  book  is  as  follows  :  the  annual  prod¬ 
uct,  or  the,  product  of  each  series  of  four  seasons,  Ts,  and  must' be  in 


the  nature  of  things,  the  source  of  all  rents,  profits,  interest,  wages, 
salaries,  and  earnings.  This  product  is  the  result  of  the  joint  appli¬ 


cation  of  labor  and  capital.  It  therefore  follows  : 

1.  That  m  this  product,  or  in  its  distribution  or  consumption,  all 
persons  take  some  part  who  are  engaged  in  gainful  occupations,  num¬ 
bering  in  the  census  of  1880  a  fraction  less  than  one  in  three  of  the 
population,  and  listed  under  the  respective  heads  of  professional  and 
personal  service,  trade  and  transportation,  manufacturing,  mechanical, 
and  mining  pursuits,  and  agriculture.  By  far  the  larger  proportion  of 
each  of  these  classes  is  now,  and  must  continue  to  be,  either  in  the  po¬ 
sition  of_small  farmers,  who  work  harder  than  their  hired  men  and  who 
outnumber  the  hired  men  engaged  in  agriculture,  or  of  wage-earners, 
or  of  persons  who  are  in  receipt  of  small  salaries  ;  nearly  all,  with  the 
exception  of  the  farmers,  are  in  the  position  of  the  employed  rather 
than  of  the  employer.  The  gains  or  savings  of  these  working  classes, 
which  may  be  added  to  the  capital  of  the  country,  amount  to  a  large 

1  Reprinted  from  the  Forum . 


137 


138 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


sum  in  the  aggregate  ;  but,  with  few  exceptions,  they  are  small  in 
amount  in  each  individual  case.  The  lives  of  the  great  majority  are 
mainly  spent  in  getting  a  living. 

2.  These  “  working  classes,”  so  called,  constituting  by  far  the  great¬ 
est  proportion  of  all  who  are  occupied  for,  gain^now  secure  for  their 
own  use  and  consumption  substantially  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  total 
annual  product  of  this  country  ;  consequently,  that  part  of  the  annual 
product  which  is,  or  can  be,  in  an  average  year,  secured  by  capital  for 
its  service,  whether  the  capital  be  owned  by  the  rich,  the  well-to-do, 
or  in  part  by  the  wage-earners  themselves,  cannot  exceed  ten  per 
cent,  on  the  average.  This  is  the  increment  which  can  be  set  aside 
for  the  maintenance  and  increase  of  the  capital  of  the  nation. 

3.  The  working  classes,  making  use  of  that  term  not  in  the  broader 
but  in  the  narrowest  sense  in  which  it  is  customarily  applied,  have 
been,  and  are  still,  securing,  for  their  own  use  and  enjoyment,  for  con¬ 
sumption  or  savings,  decade  by  decade,  subject  to  temporary  fluctua¬ 
tions  in  each  ten  years,  an  increasing  share  of  a  constantly  increasing 
product  or  its  equivalent  in  money,  and  will  continue  to  do  so  as  long 
as  the  competitive  system  is  the  rule  in  commerce,  in  production,  and 
in  distribution. 

4.  Under  the  relatively  free  conditions  of  society  in  this  country 
as  compared  to  all  others,  the  lumbers  of  the  three  classes,  i.  e .,  the 
so-called  working  classes,  the  well-to-do,  and  the  rich,  are  constantly 


changing  in  their  respective  conditions.  On  the  one  hand,  the  pros¬ 
perous  classes  are  constantly  receiving  recruits  from  the  working  class  ; 
on  the  other  hand,  as  has  been  well  said,  “  it  is  rarely  more  than  three 
generations  from  shirt-sleeves  to  shirt-sleeves.” 

No  one  could  have  been  more  surprised  than  myself  when  these 
conclusions  developed  themselves  from  the  facts  of  life.  I  have  but 
little  time  for  the  reading  of  books,  and  l  am  not  aware  that  the  attempt 
has  been  made  by  any  one  else  to  measure  the  proportions  which  may 
be  assigned  to  each  class  in  the  community  by  first  computing  the  sub¬ 
ject  of  the  division,  i.  e .,  the  annual  product  at  its  final  measure  in 
money  when  disposed  of  for  final  consumption.  It  may  be  that  this 
method  is  one  which  cannot  be  applied  with  sufficient  certainty  to 
justify  the  conclusion  ;  of  that  each  one  must  judge  for  himself  as  my 
processes  are  developed. 

Many  exceptions  have  been  taken  to  these  proportions  in  the  divi¬ 
sion  of  the  annual  product,  but  they  have  usually  been,  on  the  whole, 
of  a  somewhat  superficial  character,  like  the  review  to  which  I  now 
propose  to  make  a  rejoinder  ;  they  assume  that  I  have  intended  to 
state  that  the  proportion  of  the  annual  product  which  falls  in  the  first 
process  of  distribution  to  capitalists,  landlords,  manufacturers,  and 
men  of  business,  in  the  form  of  rents,  profits,  or  interest,  is  the  same 


How  Can  Wages  be  Increased  ? 


139 


in  amount  and  proportion  as  that  which  constitutes  the  net  profit  or 
savings  of  the  nation  as  a  whole,  .which  can  be  applied  to  the  main¬ 
tenance  or  increase  of  the  capital  of  the  nation.  I  am  probably  my¬ 
self  responsible  for  this  confusion  of  thought,  by  my  want  of  clearness 
and  precision  in  the  preparation  of  a  treatise  which  was  dictated  in 
the  intervals  of  a  very  busy  life,  and  published  without  that  careful 
revision  which  was  due  to  the  importance  of  the  question  which  I  have 
treated  under  the  title,  “What  Makes  the  Rate  of  Wages  ?  ”  may 
not  have  discriminated  sufficiently  between  the  income  of  individuals 
and  the  net  profit  or  savings  of  the  nation.  I  therefore  take  the  op¬ 
portunity  offered  me  by  my  critic  to  present  anew  some  of  the  reasons 
which  led  me  to  the  conclusions  given  as  to  the  relative  shares  of  labor 
and  capital  in  the  annual  product. 

On  one  point  I  fully  agree,  to  wit  :  if  the  workmen~or  laborers^or 
if  the  classes  consisting  of  laborers,  receivers  of  small  salaries,  small 
farmers,  and  the  like,  who  now  constitute  the  great  majority  of  the 
community,  do  now  actually  obtain  for  their  own  use  and  consumption 
ninety  per  cent,  of  the  gross  annual  product,  then  there  is  little  mar¬ 
gin  for  improvement  in  their  condition  except  through  an  increase  of 
the_prQduct  itself.  Or  if,  as  the  reviewer  says, 

“the  complete  success  of  co-operation  combined  with  nationalization  of  land  or  with 
the  establishment  of  an  ideally  perfect  system  of  socialism  would  augment  laborers’ 
incomes  within  the  limit  of  only  eleven  per  cent.,  and  that  only  provided  as  much 
were  produced  under  the  new  conditions  as  under  the  old,  then  such  a  percentage  of 
gain  would  be  wholly  insufficient  to  raise  the  recipients’  wages  to  any  condition  mate¬ 
rially  superior  to  their  present  one.” 

That  is  the  very  conclusion  to  which  my  own  mind  has  been 
brought  by  my  special  investigations  and  by  the  observation  of  some 
•curious  facts.  For  instance,  in  a  recent  strike,  in  which  a  very  large 
number  of  men  were  engaged  in  a  special  employment  whose  earnings 
averaged  $500  a  year,  I  found  that,  had  they  secured  for  their  own  enjoy¬ 
ment  the  entire  profit  of  the  business  at  the  time  of  the  strike,  it  would 
have  increased  their  wages  but  five  per  cent,  or  $25  per  year.  It  was 
an  art  in  which  the  capital  required  was  very  small  in  proportion  to 
the  annual  product.  The  strike  failed,  and  the  business  continued  as 
before. 

The  reviewer  alleges  that  the  proposition  that  ninety  per  cent,  of 
the  product  is  gained  by  those  who  do  the  work  of  life,  and  only  ten 
per  cent,  goes  to  capital,  “  is  so  evidently  false  as  to  constitute  a  re - 
ductio  ad  absurdum  .”  If  he  would  enter  upon  the  line  of  investigation 
which  I  have  followed,  without  any  a  priori  conceptions  or  prejudices 
in  his  own  mind,  he  might  be  more  successful  in  attempting  to  analyze 
the  figures  on  which  my  conclusions  have  been  based  ;  until  then  it 
would  be  prudent  to  repress  such  dogmatic  conclusions  as  the  above. 


/ 


140 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


There  are  two  sorts  of  discontent  among  working  people,  either  of 
which  may  be  promoted  by  a  discussion  of  economic  questions  ;  one 
kind  is  wholesome,  the  other  is  baneful.  If  my  conclusions  can  be 
proved,  a  wholesome  discontent  with  the;  admittedly  narrow  conditions 
of  life  may  be  directed  to  the  promotion  of  greater  abundance,  higher 
wages,  shorter  hours  of  work,  and  better  conditions  of  life.  Such 
progress  can  be  brought  about  only  by  hearty  co-operation  between 
workmen  and  their  employers  or  between  labor  and  capital,  and,  in  my 
judgment,  only  under  the  competitive  system.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  reviewer  is  right  in  alleging  that  capital  is  grasping  a  share  of  the 
annual  product  to  which  it  is  not  entitled  in  compensation  for  any 
service  rendered,  then  the  discontent  of  the  workmen  may  take  a  dan¬ 
gerous,  violent,  and  disastrous  direction.  It  is  this  conception  which 
promotes  strikes. 

If,  then,  my  conclusions  are  based  on  facts,  and  the  view  which  is 
held  by  my  critic  and  others  who  have  attempted  to  break  the  force  of 
my  figures  is  wrong,  but  is  yet  presented  under  the  guise  of  truth,  a 
very  great  responsibility  rests  upon  him  and  his  coadjutors  who  speak 
without  knowledge  and  with  more  zeal  than  discretion,  thus  aggravating 
the  very  evils  which  they  undertake  to  remove. 

I  will  first  consider  the  basis  of  my  estimates.  My  critic’s  first  error 
is  as  follows  :  he  cites  a  copy  of  one  of  my  tables,  in  which  the  com¬ 
mercial  product  of  the  United  States,  or  that  part  of  the  product  which 
was  bought,  sold,  and  exchanged  in  the  year  1880,  was  estimated  at 
$9,000,000,000  worth.  He  says  :  “  This  commercial  product  is  esti¬ 

mated  by  Mr.  Atkinson  from  the  census  returns  ”  ;  and  he  adds  :  “  It 
is  a  difficult  matter  to  reach  a  true  result  from  these  census  figures,  as 
in  these  returns  many  values  are  found  twice  or  more.”  I  did  not  de¬ 
rive  my  estimate  of  the  commercial  product  from  the  census  returns,  as 
any  one  may  see  who  uses  common  care  and  discretion  in  reviewing 
my  treatise.  On  page  31  of  my  book  these  words  appear  : 

“  The  writer  had  reached  his  own  conclusions  by  very  different  methods  from  those 
used  in  the  census  department,  and  he  had  satisfied  himself  that  if  there  be  added  to 
that  part  of  the  annual  product  which  is  sold,  and  which  is  therefore  reduced  to  terms 
of  price  in  money  in  the  markets  of  the  world,  for  domestic  consumption  upon  farms 
and  in  factories  $1,000,000,000,  then  the  total  value  of  the  annual  product  would  not 
exceed  $10,000,000,000  in  the  census  year  at  the  retail  price  for  final  consumption.” 

/  This  comes  to  about  two  hundred  dollars’ worth  of  product  per 
capita ,  including  the  domestic  consumption  of  farmers  and  others, 
which  does  not  enter  into  the  commercial  product. 

I  have  given  in  my  book  the  same  reason  which  is  cited  by  my 
critic  for  not  making  use  of  census  figures  except  as  a  means  of  check¬ 
ing  the  estimates  arrived  at  by  entirely  different  methods.  Whatever 
errors,  however,  my  critic  may  have  made  in  misrepresenting  my 


How  Can  Wages  be  Increased? 


I4I 


method,  he  yet  reaches  the  conclusion  that  my  estimate  of  ninety  per 
cent,  of  the  commercial  product  of  $9,000,000,000,  to  wit,  $8,100,000,- 
000,  was  the  wage  and  salary  fund  of  the  United  States  in  1880.  “  Al¬ 

though  wrongly  arrived  at,”  he  says,  “  it  must  be  nearly  correct.”  He 
does  not  give  his  own  method  of  reaching  concurrence  of  opinion  on 
the  subject  ;  it  is  therefore  impossible  for  me  to  say  whether  his  results 
were  wrongly  arrived  at  or  not  ;  suffice  it  that  on  this  point  we  agree. 
The  point  of  difference  between  us  is  as  to  the  sum  remaining  over  this 
wage  and  salaryTund,  which~passes  to  capitalists  and  property  owners, 
to  be  added  to  the  capital  of  the  nation.  I  computed  this  at  ten  per 
cent,  of  the  entire  product,  or  at  $20  per  capita  of  the  population,  on  an 
average  product  of  $200  worth  of  all  commodities  in  a  normal  year, 
such  as  the  year  1880  happened  to  be.  The  rate  of  accumulation  may 
possibly  yield  a  somewhat  larger  sum  in  a  year  of  great  prosperity,  and 
doubtless  diminishes  to  a  less  sum  in  years  of  adversity.  The  basis  of 
computation  in  1880  was  made  upon  the  assumed  product  of  50,000,- 
000  people,  of  whom  about  one  in  three  was  occupied  in  gainful  work 
of  some  kind  ;  with  an  increase  of  population  the  average  sum  of  the 
product  and  the  average  amount  added  to  capital  may  increase,  while 
the  proportion  per  capita  may  not  vary. 

In  attempting  to  prove  that  I  am  in  error  in  this,  my  critic  alleges 
that  “there  were  in  the  census  year  4,074,238  working  people  engaged 
in  rendering  personal  and  professional  service,  the  value  of  whose 
labor  does  not  appear  in  the  value  of  any  material  production.”  He 
then  assumes  that  these  four  million  persons  sell  their  service  at  an 
average  of  $300  per  year  each  ;  “  therefore,”  he  says,  “  this  would  leave 
a  sum  for  personal  service  amounting  to  $1,200,000,000,  to  be  added  to 
the  gross  value  of  the  material  product.”  He  next  makes  a  hypo¬ 
thetical  estimate  as  follows  : 


“  Horses  and  other  animals,  hired  or  kept  for  pleasure  ;  railways  and  telegraph  com¬ 
panies,  to  the  extent  to  which  they  are  utilized  for  other  than  business  purposes, 
together  with  service  performed  for  us  by  various  other  forms  of  accumulated  wealth, 
which  would  probably  add  enough  to  this  sum  to  make  it,  in  round  figures,  $800,- 
000,000.  Adding  this  to  the  computed  value  of  persons  engaged  in  personal  and  pro¬ 
fessional  service,  we  have  $2,000,000,000  of  annual  income  which  Mr.  Atkinson  fails  to 
account  for.” 


This  passage  is  very  obscure,  but  it  is  the  turning-point  of  the 
whole  question.  If  I  catch  the  meaning  of  the  reviewer,  he  finds 
$2,000,000,000  worth  of  service  rendered  by  professional  men,  by  do¬ 
mestic  servants,  by  men  of  wealth  and  others,  also  by  horses  used  for 
pleasure,  by  railways  when  not  occupied  for  business  purposes,  which, 
as  he  says,  “have  no  material  basis.”  If  they  had  no  material  basis, 
from  what  source  was  the  money  derived  ?  He  proposes  to  add  the 
value  of  these  services  to  a  sum  of  products  already  established,  and 


142 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


having  thus  added  $2,000,000,000,  he  assigns  that  additional  amount  to 
profits  or  to  the  capitalists  as  an  addition  to  their  proportion  of  the 
total  product  as  computed  by  me.  This  method  would  warrant  a  very 
queer  conclusion,  which  might  be  given  in  the  following  terms  : 
Uncle  Sam  gets  $10,000  a  year  out  of  his  estate  ;  he  spends  $9,000  a 
year,  and  saves  10  per  cent.,  or  $1,000  worth  of  his  product.  “  Oh,  no,” 
says  the  objector  ;  “  that  is  not  a  fair  statement  of  his  savings.  Uncle 
Sam  has  five  servants  in  his  employ,  whose  services  are  worth  $300  a 
year  each  ;  there  must,  therefore,  be  added  $1,500  to  the  $10,000.  His 
true  income  is  $11,500,  and  he  makes  $2,500  a  year  above  what  he 
spends  ;  it  is  too  much  ;  he  ought  not  to  have  so  much.”  One  would 
like  to  learn  the  secret  of  how  to  make  a  profit  from  the  services  of 
servants,  from  driving  pleasure  horses,  and  from  riding  in  palace  cars. 
Now,  the  very  proposition  which  I  have  attempted  to  sustain  is,  that  the 
entire  production,  of  the  census  year  could  not  have  exceeded  in  value 
$200  worth  per  capita  on  the  average  of  population,  including  the  very 
classes  whose  earnings  he  proposes  to  add.  From  that  part  of  the  pro¬ 
duction,  whatever  it  may  be,  which  enters  into  commerce,  computed  by 
me  at  90  per  cent,  of  the  whole,  all  wages,  all  taxes,  all  profits,  and  the 
'  compensation  for  all  services  or  earnings  must  be  derived,  including 
the_ravjnent  made  for  professional  and  personal  service  and  the 
service  of  wealth  as  well — unless  the  capital  previously  accumulated  in 
other  years  enters  into  consumption  in  a  given  year  without  being  re¬ 
produced,  which  would,  of  course,  be  disastrous. 

In  my  computation  the  sum  of  $8,100,000,000  is  given  as  the  wage 
and  salary  fund*,  the  compensation  of  the  small  farmer,  and  the  share 
of  those  who  may  be  called  the  hard-working  classes  in  the  community 
in  the  year  1880  ;  this  being  divided  by  the  number,  yielded  an  aver¬ 
age  to  which  my  critic  assents.  In  my  further  computation,  the  do¬ 
mestic  consumption  of  the  farmers  is  estimated  at  $1,000,000,000,  and 
the  share  of  the  product  assigned  to  the  maintenance  and  increase  of 
capital  is  put  at  10  per  cent,  of  the  whole.  If,  then,  this  last  assign¬ 
ment  is  underestimated,  an  additional  product  must  be  found  before 
it  can  be  increased.  In  other  words,  my  critic  must  prove  conclu¬ 
sively  that  I  have  omitted  20  per  cent,  of  the  total  product  in  my 
computation  before  he  can  contest  the  sums  assigned  to  each  specific 
class  of  population  or  justify  his  own  figures.  I  have  always  hoped  that 
some  thoroughly  competent  student  would  take  up  this  line  of  investi¬ 
gation,  as  it  seems  to  me  fundamental.  I  am  aware  that  my  own  work 
is  insufficient,  but  I  can  find  no  evidence  of  product  exceeding  $200 
worth  per  capita,  or  of  an  increment  to  capital  exceeding  10  per  cent,  of 
that  average. 

My  critic  and  others  who  have  contested  these  figures  have  not 
made  this  complete  investigation.  He  himself  sets  up  a  mass  of 


How  Can  Wages  be  Increased  ? 


H3 


figures,  which  are  his  own,  and  then  bases  a  criticism  of  my  results  on 
his  own  guesses  at  the  sum  of  the  products.  In  this  he  is  like  many 
other  teachers  and  preachers  whose  zeal  is  greater  than  their  knowledge, 
and  who  may  do  more  harm  in  promoting  discontent  of  a  malignant 
kind  the  more  sincere  they  are  in  their  convictions. 

The  fundamental  principle  which  I  have  endeavored  to  present  in 
the  treatment  of  What  Makes  the  Rate  of  Wages?”  is  this:  the 
fixed  capital,  so  called,  must,  of  course,  be  carried  over,  increasing 
from  year  to  year  with  the  population,  in  order  that  it  may  be  made 
use  of  in  co-operation  with  labor  in  The  production  of  the  wage7 
salary,  and  profit  fund  of  the  year,  to  wit,  the  total  product. /  A  small 
portion  of  each  year’s  product,  commonly  called  quick /oractive 

capital,  is  also  carried  forward,  to  be  immediately  consumed  or  ex¬ 
pended  in  the  next  year  to  start  upon,  as  a  small  portion  will  be  car¬ 
ried  forward  to  the  subsequent  year  to  start  the  work  of  that  year 
upon  :  the  remainder  of  the  product,  whatever  it  may  be  worth,  is 
the  only  source  of  all  profits,  ineome,  wages,-— and  taxes  in  that  series 
of  four  seasons.  There  is,  and  can  be,  no  other  soure  of  revenue  to 
any  one,  unless  the  fixed  capital  previously  saved  be  converted  into  a 
consumable  form  and  impaired  in  a  bad  year.  IJiave  reached!  the 
somewhat  appalling  conclusion  that  this  total  product  does  not  yield 
to  each  person  of  the  population,  now  or  in  1880,  more  than  what 
fifty  to_  fifty-five  cents  a  day  will  purchase,  including  not  only  the 
^commercial  product,  but^the  product  consumed  upon  the  farms. 
Therefore,  by  so  much  as  some  have  more  must  others  have  less.  How 
can  the  haves  justify  themselves  to  the  have-nots  ?  The  method  by 
which  this  conclusion  has  been  reached  is  described  in  the  book,  and 
the  statement  of  the  method  should  have  rendered  it  impossible  for 
my  critic  to  have  put  his  exceptions  to  the  work  in  the  form  in  which 
he  has  presented  them.  He  has  not  read  the  book  with  the  care  which 
is  due  from  a  reviewer  who  has  a  serious  purpose  in  view.  It  would  be 
entirely  free  to  him  or  to  any  one  else  to  reject  the  whole  treatise  as 
unworthy  of  criticism  ;  but,  in  the  line  of  economic  investigation, 
whoever  undertakes  to  review  either  figures  or  the  conclusions  which 
are  based  upon  them,  should  at  least  qualify  himself  to  present  the 
subject  of  the  review  itself  consistently  and  correctly. 

If  this  theory  is  a  true  one,  to  wit,  that  all  wages,  profits,  and  taxes 
which  are  liquidated  in  money  must  of  necessity  come  within  the  limit 
of  the  salable  value  of  that  part  of  the  product  which  is  bought  and 
sold,  it  follows  of  necessity  that  “  neither  the  earnings  of  those  per¬ 
sons  who  are  engaged  in  personal  and  professional  service,  nor  the 
support  of  horses,  railways,  and  telegraph  companies  used  for  other 
than  business  purposes,  nor  the  services  performed  for  us  by  various 
forms  of  accumulated  wealth  ”  can  be  added  to  a  sum  which  already 


144 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


>r 

< 


(oxW*3^ 


covers  the  entire  value  of  every  thing  produced.  The  whole  ques¬ 
tion,  therefore,  is,  Did  the  commercial  value-  of  the  annual  product  of 
1880  exceed  $9,000,000,000,  or  $180  per  capita  of  the  population — 
$20  being  added  for  consumption  on  farms — or  does  it  exceed  $200 
worth  per  capiia  now  ? 

The  family  group  numbers  five,  but  one  in  three  is  at  work.  Is  the 
average  income  or  product  of  all  at  work,  rich  and  poor  alike,  worth 
only  $600  a  year,  to  be  distributed  as  wages,  profits,  and  taxes  at  the 
present  time  ? 

I  reached  that  estimate  by  the  following  method  : 
l  T  A  computed  the  wheat  crop  in  quantity  by  bushels  ;  I  then  found 
the  value  of  the  wheat  exported  ;  I  next  converted  the  remainder  into 
bread,  and  priced  it  at  the  average  market  price  of  bread,  taking  an  aver¬ 
age  rather  than  a  maximum  ;  I  computed  the  corn  crop  and  its  product 
in  meat  and  dairy  products  at  retail  prices.  I  treated  all  food-products. 

(fz)  I  made  a  careful  analysis  of  all  the  fibres  produced  and  im¬ 
ported,  computed  their  value,  and  being  familiar  with  the  cost  of 
manufacturing  both  fabrics  and  and  clothing,  carpets,  cordage,  and 
.  the  like,  I  converted  the  crude  materials  into  their  final  value_at  the 
retail  prices  at  which  these  commodities  were  sold. 

3.'  I  went  through  the  same~process  with  metals,  timber,  and  other 
commodities,  and  footed  up  the  result.  Of  course  I  could  reach  only 
approximately  correct  results  ;  but  having  reached  the  total  amount  of 
the  probable  value  of  these  products  at  retail  prices  in  this  way,  I 
then  reversed  my  method,  and  proceeded  from  the  expenditure  of  the 
individual  to  the  gross  sum  of  their  expenditure. 

I  took  large  averages  of  consumption  in  all  its  details  from  the  re¬ 
ports  of  the  bureaus  of  statistics,  and  large  averages  of  the  wages  earned 
from  these  reports  and  from  the  census  figures  ;  then  worked  back  from 
the  unit  of  the  individual  to  the  gross  product  consumed,  class  by  class, 
by  the  population.  I  next  ascertained  what  were  actually  the  gross 
average  profits  of  business  in  very  many  lines  ;  I  estimated  every  thing 
consumed  in  two  or  three  large  branches  of  industry,  and  by  many  other 
methods  I  checked  off  the  original  figures.  I  was  myself  very  much 
surprised  at  the  close  agreement  of  the  various  methods  which  I  applied 
before  I  attempted  to  prove  my  conclusions  by  the  final  check  from  the 
census  of  the  United  States.  I  should  have  been  tempted  to  join  my 
critic  in  pronouncing  the  conclusion  almost  a  reductio  ad  absurdum,  had 
not  subsequent  investigation  and  analysis  confirmed  the  substantial 
accuracy  of  my  first  results.  Great  masses  of  capital  impose  upon  the 
imagination  and  disguise  the  true  relations  of  capital  and  the  proportion 
of  profits  to  production. 

The  error  into  which  my  critic  and  others  have  been  led  is  this  : 
they  have  confounded  the  profits,  savings,  or  addition  to  the  capital  of 


How  Can  Wages  be  Increased  f 


145 


the  nation  as  a  whole,  with  the  individual  incomes  of  capitalists,  mid¬ 
dle-men,  merchants,  manufacturers,  and  the  like.  Mr.  Hawley  has 
entirely  overlooked  this  distinction,  to  which  I  call  attention,  in  these 
words  : 

“  It  will  be  observed  that  the  measure  of  the  savings  of  a  nation  is  something  quite 
different  from  the  measure  of  that  which  would  constitute  the  profits  of  individuals!  ~ 
for  instance,  the  manufacturer  or  merchant  may  make  a  very  considerable  profit  out  of 
his  work,  but  he  then  distributes  a  very  large  proportion  of  this  profit  in  His'  family 
expenses,  thereby  sustaining  a  large  number  of  persons  who  are  included  among  the 
so-called  working  classes  or  wage-earners.  The  final  end  or  contribution  to  the  capital 
of  a  nation  is,  therefore,  a  very  much  less  sum  than  the  apparent  aggregate  profit 
which  accrues  to  individuals  from  the  rent  of  real  estate7?roni  interest,  or  from  the 
income  derived  by  the  individual  owners  from  manufacturing,  railroads,  or  other 
investments,  or  from  business.” 


A  man  may  receive  an  income  of  one  million  dollars  a  year,  but  he 
costs  only  what  he  consumes.  The  richest  man  rarely  consumes  more 
than  a  small  part  of  his  income  in  what  may  be  called  unproductive 
consumption y~whaTTie~ and  his  fanTiy~^ost~the  country  is  the  measure 
of  their  actual  consumption  in  their  own  persons  ;  what  they  spend 
constitutes  the  income  or  share  of  the  annual  product  of  those  among 
whom  it  is  spent.  Every  capitalist  is  a  distributer  as  well  as  a  con¬ 
sumer^  There  is,  doubtless,  much  wasteful  expenditure  ;  but  the  ques¬ 
tion  may  well  be  asked  :  What  class  wastes  the  most,  the  rich  in  their 
luxurious  personal  expenditure,  or  the  mass  of  the  people  who  spend  a 
sum  variously  computed  at  $700,000,000  to  $1,000,000,000  a  year  on 
spirits,  beer,  and  tobacco  ?  _So  far  as  any  computation  is  possible,  in 
my  judgment,  the  annual  product,  i.  <?.,  the  wage  and  profit  fund, 
is  impaired  more  seriously  by  the  waste  of  the  poor  and  ignorant,  not 
only  in  drink,  but  in  the  purchase  of  bad  food  worse  cooked,  than  by 
all  the  luxurious  expenditure  of  the  rich.  This  is  an  individual  ques¬ 
tion,  beyond  the  reach  of  governmental  action,  co-operation,  socialism 
collective  industry,  or  of  any  other  empirical  method.  The  right 
method  of  saving  the  waste  of  products  must  be  developed  from 


within.  It  is  personal  to  each  individual,  and  cannot  be  imposed  from 
without. 

It  is.  doubtless,  true  that  in  the  distribution  of  products  more  than 


ten  per  cent,  of  the  whole  passes  from  those  who  do  the  actual,  direct, 
productive  work  of  the  country  on  farms,  in  mines,  forests,  and  facto¬ 
ries,  to  others  who  become  consumers  of  a  part  of  these  products 
in  the  employment  of  the  rich,  the  well-to-do,  the  capitalists,  the  mid- 
dle-men,  under  the  direction  of  employers  who  are  not  commonly 
included  among  the  working  classes  in  the  narrow  interpretation  of  that 
term  and  who_ distribute  products  among  those  whonT  they  employ. 

But  the  persons  tO-whom- they — the  capitalists,  merchants,  and  middle¬ 
men — serve  as  distributers  of  these  products  are  themselves  wage-  / 


t  n 


146 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


earners  or  persons  working  for  small  salaries,  although  they  are  not 
direcffy* the  producers  of  the  necessities  of  life.  It  is  in  this  way  that 
a  very  large  proportion  of  those  who  are  engaged  in  professional  or 
personal  service  secure  their  share  of  the  annual  product.  It  follows, 
of  necessity,  that  this  portion  of  the  product,  which  is  now  distributed 
by  way  of  rent,  profit,  interest,  or  by  any  other  method  under  which  it 
comes  within  the  control  of  the  capitalists  or  the  well-to-do  classes, 
should  be  withdrawn  from  them  by  those  who  do  the  actual  work 
of  production,  then  the  employment  would  be  withheld  from  a  very 
large  number  of  wage-earners  who  had  previously  derived  their  share 
through  the  intervention  of  these  capitalists  serving  in  the  function  of 
distributers.  This  large  class,  when  thus  deprived  of  their  employment, 
must  at  once  take  to  directly  productive  pursuits,  in  order  to  sustain 
themselves,  in  place  of  working  for  the  well-to-do  classes  for  whom  they 
had  previously  worked.  But  since  the  product  of  the  actual  necessi¬ 
ties  of  life  is  now  very  apt  to  exceed  the  possible  consumption  of  the 
year,  and  since  it  is  becoming  more  and  more  difficult  to  find  a  foreign 
market  for  this  excess  of  the  actual  necessities  of  life,  might  not  this 
change  in  the  form  of  distribution  work  more  harm  than  good  ?  For 
instance,  a  large  number  of  the  most  skilful  mechanics  of  this  country 
are  occupied  in  making  pianos.  Pianos  are  not  necessities  of  life. 
The  earnings  of  these  mechanics  reach  them  by  way  of  the  capitalists, 
or  well-to-do  classes,  yet  there  is  no  other  market  for  the  greater 
part  of  the  pianos  except  in  the  supply  of  persons  whose  incomes  are 
such  as  to  remove  them  from  the  category  of  the  Ti  working  classes,”  in 
the  narrow  sense  of  that  term.  The  piano-makers  are,  therefore,  con¬ 
sumers  ;  they  add  to  the  wealth  of  the  well-to-do  rather  than  to  the 
capital  of  the  country  ;  their  product  is  not  reproductive.  They  are 
consumers  of  products  in  the  reproduction  of  what  may  be  called 
wealth,  but  which  is  not  capital,  or  labor  saved  for  reproductive 
purposes. 

Now,  if  the  annual  product  of  the  nation  is  the  only  source  of  wages, 
profits,  and  taxes,  then  it  follows  that,  by  so  much  as  the  piano- 
makers  enjoy  any  share,  or  more  than  an  average  share  as  compared  to 
other  working-men  and  women,  some  other  working-men  and  women 
must  enjoy  less.  What,  then,  is  the  justification  for  this  diversion  of  a 
part  of  the  annual  product,  through  the  intervention  of  the  capitalist,  to 
'unproductive  consumption  in  the  form  of  a  piano?  If  such  a  diver¬ 
sion  cannot  be  justified,  then  the  high-priced  mechanics  who  make  the 
pianos  may  have  no  right  to  exist  in  that  way.  Itvis  not  the  capitalist 
who  actually  consumes  the  food,  fuel,  clothing,  and  shelter  which  they 
enjoy  ;  he  is  only  an  agent  who  has  diverted  a  part  of  the  product  from 
the  less  adequately  paid  laborers  on  the  farms,  in  the  mines  and  the 
forests  and  the  factories,  or  from  the  producers  to  the  use  of  these 


How  Can  Wages  be  Increased  ? 


147 


aristocrats  among  workmen,  who  convert  rosewood  and  mahogany  into 
(Tig  pianos  which  are  merely  for  the  enjoyment  of  the  richer  classes  in 
society.  . 

Again,  there  are  many  families  of  five  persons  who  employ  five 
servants,  each  of  whom  consumes  some  other  man’s  product.  The 
capitalist  working  as  a  distributer  diverts  the  production  of  five  pro¬ 
ductively  working  people  to  the  consumption  of  five  persons  in  his  own 
employment.  By  what  right  ?  There  is  only  so  much  to  be  divided, 
and  by  so  much  as  some  have  more  others  must  have  less.  All  con¬ 
sumption  must  come  out  of  all  production  :  by  so  much  as  the  few  who 
produce  nothing  by  their  own  personal  labor  become  the  consumers  of 
the  products  of  the  many  who  produce  every  thing,  so  do  the  latter 
sustain  the  former.  Where  is  the  compensation  ?  That  is  the  cause  of 
discontent.  Many  an  honest  workman  now  sincerely  contests  the 
equity  of  distribution  by  way  of  capitalists.  What  is  the  true  answer? 
There  is,  and  can  be,  but  one  reply  to  this  question.  Labor  does 
not  produce  the  entire  product  ;  it  only  shares  in  the  work  as  it  shares 
in  the  product.  Without  capital  labor  alone  would  be  almost  in¬ 
capable  of  sustaining  those  who  constitute  the  mere  working  classes  in 
the  narrowest  sense.  Capital  is  a  force,  and  capitalists  are  those  who 

r 

direct  this  force.  By  the  direction  which  the  owners  or  the  adminis¬ 
trators  of  capital  give  to  this  force,  which  requires  mental  work  of  the 
most  uncommon  kind,  the  joint  product  of  labor  and  capital  is  so  much 
increased  that,  even  though  the  capitalist  secures  to  his  own  use  a  large 
part  of  the  joint  product,  what  is  left  to  the  working-man  is  more  in 
quantity  and  in  value  than  he  could  otherwise  have  attained  by  his  own 
unaided  efforts.  In  all  commerce,  in  all  manufactures,  in  all  indus¬ 
tries,  in  all  work  of  every  kind,  the  forces  of  labor  and  capital  must  co¬ 
operate,  and  must  render  mutual  service  to  each  other.  This  law  can¬ 
not  be  impaired  by  either  without  disaster  to  both.  The  capitalist 
adds  more,  by  his  service,  to  the  joint  product  than  he  can  possibly 
take  away  or  divert  to  consumers  in  any  form  of  rent,  profit,  or  interest. 

.If  all  labor,  including  that  of  the  piano-makers,  of  domestic  service, 
and  of  all  other  consumers,  and  if  all  capitalists  also  were  rlpprived  nf 
the  force  of  capital,  and  were  obliged  to  get  their  own  living  by  their 
own  manual  or  directly  productive  work,  all  would  of  necessity  be 
forced  to  work  for  the  mere  necessities  of  life.  If  all  did  so  work  in 
this  country,  and  were  not  deprived  of  the  use  of  improved  tools, 
methods,  and  inventions,  now  controlled  and  applied  by  capitalists,  this 
country,  at  least,  would  “  be  smothered  in  its  own  grease  ”  ;  all  might 
fatten  alike  upon  the  gross  product  of  mere  animal  necessities,  without 
mental  development  or  progress  of  any  kind. 

The  higher  law  which  I  have  endeavored  to  develop  in  the  treatise 
under  consideration  is  this  :  that  under  just  institutions  those  who  con- 


I 


148 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


/ 


titute  the  working  classes  are,  in  fact,  securing  for  themselves, 
ecade  by  decade,  for  their  own  use  and  enjoyment,  an  increasing  share 
f  a  constantly  increasing  product,  and  this  is,  mainly  due  to  the  capi¬ 
tal  used  in  their  service,  while  capital,  strive  as  it  may,  can  secure  for 
ihp  own  use,  direction,  or  control  only  a  diminishing  share  of  an  in- 
creaaijD^  -product_-^  Yet' such  have  been  the  vast  benefits  conferred  by 
inventors  and  applied  by  capitalists  to  material  production  that  this 
lessening  share  secured  by  capital  from  the  present  enormous  product 
amounts  to  a  larger  aggregate  of  wealth  than  was  ever  before  attained 
,by  any  nation.  We  can  afford  to  convert  the  luxuries  of  one  genera¬ 
tion  into  the  comforts  of  the  next,  and  perhaps  the  necessities  of  the 
third,  and  we  do  so.  The  standard  of  material  welfare  is-,  in  fact,  con¬ 
stantly  rising,  and  he  only  is  left  behind  who  does  not  qualify  himself 
to  grasp  the  ever  wider  opportunity  for  comfort  and  for  welfare  which 
is  open  to  him  in  the  exact  measure  of  his  own  capacity  and  aptitude. 

I  admit  that  these  problems  are  of  the  very  greatest  difficulty.  The 
attempt  to  cor^ert  the  whole  annual  product  of  the  nation  into  terms 
_]qf  money,  and  to  measure  with  more  than  approximate  accuracy  the 
relative  average  share  which  each  person  can^obtain,  is  perhaps  beyond 
the  power  of  economists  and  statisticians.  I  admit  that  only  an  ap¬ 
proximate  estimate  can  be  made  ;  but  I  point  out  that  when  we  work 
from  the  unit  of  the  individual  to  the  gross  product  of  the  nation,  and 
vice  versa .  we  may  possibly  be  surprised  at  the  concurrence  of  our 
estimates,  for  the  reason  that  an  error  of  five  cents  a  day  comes  to  over 
$1,000,000,000  a  year  ;  therefore  such  an  error  may  not  be  difficult  to 
detect  in  the  gro.ss  and  to  correct  in  the  detail. 

I  am  of  opinion  that  my  critic,  or  any  other  investigator  who  takes 
hold  of  this  subject  at  the  right  end,  will  have  great  difficulty  in  finding 
products  made  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States  in  a  normal  year, 
the  gross  value  of  which  would  come  to  more  than  $200  per  capita  of 
the  existing  population.  The  gross  amount  would  now  be  $12,500,- 
000,000  at  that  rate.  My  own  conviction  is,  that  such  an  estimate  is 
too  large  rather  than  too  small.  If.  any  one  can  find  more  than  10  per 
cent,  added  to  capital,  or  applied  to  the>maintenance  or  to  the  increase 
of  capital,  he  will  do  more  than  I  have  been  able  to  do. 

There  is  another  method  of  testing  the  accuracy  of  the  estimate  of 
additions  to  capital,  which  I  will  present,  although  it  may  be  considered 
somewhat  visionary.  Imagination  is  a  considerable  factor,  even  in 
dealing  with  figures  ;  except  for  the  play  of  the  imagination  they  would 
be  very  dry  bones.  The  average  population  of  this  country  for 
the  last  century  has  been  substantially  30,000,000  ;  we  now  number 
over  60,000,000.  Doubtless  my  critic  and  all  other  students  would 
admit  that  there  must  have  been  every  year,  during  the  last  century, 
an  annual  consumption,  per  capita,,  approximating  what  would  have 


H9 


How  Can  Wages  be  Increased  f 


cost,  at  market  prices,  twenty-five  to  twenty  seven  cents  per  day.  for 
each  person,  $90  to  $100  worth  per  year  of  food,  fuel,  shelter,  and 
clothing.  Let  any  one  consider  what  can  be  had  now,  and  how  little 
could  have  been  had  in  the  last  century,  for  twenty-five  cents  in  food, 
fuel,  shelter,  clothing,  and  sundries,  and  it  will  then  be  apparent  that 
such  an  expenditure  or  measure  of  consumption  must  have  been  made 
on  the  average  of  the  century  in  order  to  sustain  life  ;  hence,  it  would 
follow  that  the  average  price  of  life  for  30,000,000  people  each  year  has 
been  about  $100  a  year.  This  would  come  to  an  average  of  $3,00©,- 
000,000,  by  the  measure  of  money  for  the  average  population  of 
30,000,000.  Multiply  this  by  one  hundred  years,  and  we  find  the  cost 
of  subsistence  to  have  been  the  visionary  sum  of  $300,000,000,000,  a 
sum  which  conveys  little  idea  to  the  mind,  but  which  is  suitable  for 
purposes  of  analysis.  What  would  be  10  per  cent,  upon  this  sum  ? 
Would  it  not  be  $30,000,000,000  ?  If,  then,  a  sum  equal  to  10  per  cent, 
of  this  assumed  measure  of  the  cost  of  subsistence  had  been  set  aside 
during  the  last  century,  we  ought  to  find  the  latter  amount  of  accumu- 

Nr 

lated  capital  or  wealth  in  existence  in  addition  to  the  valuation  of  land. 
But.  there  are  no  figures  in  the  census,  or  anywhere  else,  which  indicate 
any  such  amount  of  the  product  of  labor  now  in  existence  in  a  salable 
form,  aside  from  the  value  of  the  land  itself.  I  do  not  attach  any  great 
authority  to  the  computations  of  the  value  of  the  property  of  the 
United  States,  either  in  the  census  or  elsewhere  ;  the  superintendent  of 
the  census  himself  and  the  special  experts  give  the  reason  \^hy  these 
figures  are  approximate  estimates  rather  than  statements  of  fact  ;  but 
there  would  be  at  least  some  sign  of  a  quantity  of  -capital,  aside  from 
or  upon  the  land,  measured  as  above,  if  it  were  in  existence.  Where 


is  it  ? 

What  I  have  endeavored  to  prove  is  this  :  that  not  exceeding  ten 
per  cent,  of  the  product  of  any  year  is,  or  can  be,  set  aside,  accumu¬ 
lated,  or  maintained  ;  it  will  vary  from  year  to  year._  If  the  average 
cost  of  subsistence  of  all  the  people  who  have  inhabited  this  country 
for  a  century,  including  rich  and  poor,  high-priced  mechanic  and  low- 
priced  laborer  alike,  has  been  only  what  twenty-five  cents  a  day  would 
represent  in  the  form  of  food,  fuel,  clothing,  and  shelter,  then  the  sum 
of  the  capital,  aside  from  the  value  of  land  now  in  existence,  would  be 
close  upon  $27,370,000,000.  If  the  measure  of  the  cost  of  subsist¬ 
ence  for  a  century  has  been  thirty  cents  a  day,  and  ten  per  cent., 
or  three  cents  a  day,  has  been  set  aside  for  the  maintenance  and 
increase  of  capital,  we  should  now  have  a  capital,  aside  from  -mtfd, 
of  $32,750,000,000.  Where  is  it?  On  the  basis  of  figures  which  I 
have  given,  or  on  an  assumed  cost  of  living  of  twenty-five  to  thirty  cents 
per  day,  there  is  no  capital  in  existence  which  would  represent  ten  per 
cent.,  or  three  cents  a  day,  saved  for  each  unit  of  the  population  inhab- 


150  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 

iting  the  country  one  year,  year  by  year,  for  the  last  century.  Our 
present  population  is  computed  at  about  60,000,000  ;  if  only  three  cents 
a  day  were  now  saved,  the  aggregate  would  be  a  little  less  than  $670,- 
000,000  worth  in  a  year  ;  but  the  average  production  of  each  person 
cannot  now  be  estimated  at  much  less  than  double  the  average  of  the 
century  ;  therefore  ten  per  cent,  upon  our  present  product,  six  cents  per 
day  or  $21.90  per  year,  set  aside,  per  capita ,  would  come  to  $1,340,000,- 
000.  Can  any  one  find  any  more  ?  I  cannot.  This  would  be  ioT7o2jj 
percent,  on  an  annual  product  valued  at  $12,500,000,000. 

My  critic  and  others  imply  that  \vhatever  is  saved  is  secured  by 
,  capitalists  as  a  separate  class,  to  the  exclusion  of  others  ;  he  alleges  that 
“  wage-receivers,  on  the  whole,  save  little  or  nothing,”  the  only  appar- 
I  ent  exception  to  this  being  the  farmers,  who,  he  says,  are  classed  as 
wage-receivers  in  the  census.  I  should  be  glad  to  have  a  citation 
of  authority  on  this  point.  What  proof  is  there  that  wage-receivers 
save  little  or  nothing?  This  statement  is,  in  my  judgment,  wholly 
erroneous.  I  think  that  wage-receivers,  small  farmers,  or  those  who  are 
']!  in  the  position  of  the  employed  rather  than  the  employer,  on  moderate 
X//  or  small  salaries,  have  saved  at  least  one  half  of  all  the  capital  which  has 
m  been  saved..  The  other  half  may  perhaps  be  traced  to  the  capitalists  or 
to  the  middle-men,  in  whose  hands  it  is  the  most  potent  force  in 
production  ;  but  there  are  no  data  within  my  knowledge  by  which 
to  prove  this  hypothesis.  It  may  appear,  however,  to  any  close 
observer,  that  the  distribution  of  wealth  in  this  country  differs  very 
greatly  from  that  of  any  other  country  ;  it  is  much  more  widely  and 
more  evenly  shared.  It  would  be  a  most  interesting  subject  of 
research  of  students  in  post-graduate  courses  of  study. 

If  the  propositions  presented  in  this  treatise  can  be  sustained,  it 
follows  that  the  great  and  admitted  disparity  among  the  so-called  work¬ 
ing  classes  cannot  be  attributed  to  any  large  or  increasing  share  of  the 
product  of  the  country  being  secured  by  capitalists  and  added  to  their 
own  accumulations.  By  analyzing  the  rates  of  wages  as  well  as  their 
purchasing  power,  it  is  proved  that  since  i860,  subject  to  temporary 
reduction  in  the  purchasing  power  of  wages  during  the  period  of  war 
and  paper  money,  the  constant  tendency  of  wages  or  earnings  has 
been  to  rise  both  in  rate  and  in  purchasing  power.  By  selecting  the 
rates  of  wages  given  in  Vol.  XX.  of  the  Census  of  the  United  States, 
compiled  by  Mr.  Joseph  D.  Weeks,  and  assorting  these  rates  by  classes, 
the  data  being  taken  from  over  100  establishments,  I  find  that  there 
is  an  increasing  disparity  among  those  who  constitute  the  working 
classes  in  the  strictest  sense.  Given  a  standard  of  the  average  con¬ 
sumption  of  food,  fuel,  and  materials  for  clothing,  rent  being  omitted 
because  it  varies  so  much  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  it  is  ap¬ 
parent  to  any  one  who  will  devote  sufficient  time  to  a  thorough  inves- 


How  Can  Wages  be  Increased  ?  1 5 1 

tigation  of  the  whole  subject,  that  since  1865  the  wages  of  foremen, 
overseers,  boss-blacksmiths,  specially  skilled  cabinet-makers,  and  the 
like,  have  advanced  108  per  cent.;  average  mechanics,  engineers,  car¬ 
penters,  machinists,  and  the  like,  90  per  cent.;  factory  operatives  and 
all  persons  engaged  in  the  ordinary  arts  of  making  stoves,  boots,  hats, 
cars,  wagons,  and  the  like,  78  per  cent.;  and  common  laborers  only  66 
per  cent.  Now,  if  these  gains  of  the  better  class  of  workmen  could 
be  averaged  in  money  and  multiplied  by  the  respective  numbers  of 
workmen  in  the  several  classes,  I  think  it  would  appear  without  ques¬ 
tion  that  the  aggregate  of  the  larger  share  of  the  annual  product 
secured  by  class  1  and  class  2,  as  compared  to  classes  3  and  4,  would 
come  to  a  greater  sum  than  that  which  is  or  can  be  added  to  capital 
by  capitalists  in  any  one  year.  Therefore  it  follows  that,  even  if  the 
share  of  the  annual  product  which  is  now  secured  by  capitalists  to  be 
added  to  their  own  capital,  were  evenly  distributed  among  all  who  do 
the  work,  as  great  a  disparity  would  continue  to  exist  in  the  conditions 
of  the  working  classes  as  exists  at  the  present  time.  If  it  were  un¬ 
evenly  distributed  the  disparity  among  the  working  classes  would  be 
greater  than  it  is  now.  I  think  it  follows  of  necessity,  from  this  pro¬ 
cess  of  reasoning,  that  the  only  logical  agitator  of  the  present  day 
among  the  so-called  labor  reformers  is  the  communist  who  objects  to 
the  whole  existing  method  of  distribution.  The  tradeunionist  is  en¬ 
tirely  illogical,  his  object  being  to  secure  to  the  particular  trade  to 
which  he  belongs  a  larger  share  of  the  annual  product  than  now  comes 
to  the  members  of  that  trade.  He  can  only  accomplish  this  at  the 
cost  of  some  other  trade.  He  cannot  attain  any  large  advance  in  the 
customary  rate  of  compensation  at  this  particular  trade  at  the  expense 
of  capital,  because  capital  will  quit  the  art  unless  it  can  earn  the 
average  of  profits  in  other  occupations.  Does  it  not  follow,  from 
whatever  point  of  view  the  distribution  of  products  is  taken  up,  that 
the  measure  of  subsistence,  shelter,  and  luxury  which  a  man  may  ob¬ 
tain  must,  in  the  long  run,  be  measured  by  the  service  which  he  ren¬ 
ders  to  the  community  as  a  whole  ?  That  is  to  say,  the  measure  of 
each  man’s  income  or  share  of  the  annual  product  is  determined  by 
his  own  capacity  to  supply  each  demand  of  the  community.  The 
demand  ma)^  be  for  rum  or  it  may  be  for  wholesome  food  ;  as  to  what 
the  demand  shall  be  each  member  of  the  community  judges  for  him¬ 
self.  Each  consumer  pays  his  fellow  workmen,  his  employer,  or  the 
capitalist  to  whose  capital  he  gives  life  and  force,  not  for  their  benefit, 
but  because  he  decides  for  himself  that  in  such  purchases  he  can 
serve  his  own  needs  better  than  he  could  in  any  other  way.  A  larger 
measure  of  comfort  and  luxury,  shorter  hours  of  work,  better  condi¬ 
tions  of  life  are,  therefore,  elements  of  individual  character  to  which 
legislation  can  only  give  more  or  less  free  play.  Hence  it  follows  that 


r52 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


most  of  the  restrictive  acts  of  public  legislation  and  most  of  the  re¬ 
strictive  by-laws  of  the  private  legislation  of  trade-unions,  knights  of 
labor,  and  the  like,  retard  rather  than  promote  the  development  of 
general  comfort  and  welfare.  In  the  last  analysis  each  man  fixes  his 
own  rate  of  wages  by  the  measure  of  his  individual  capacity. 

In  conclusion,1  let  it  be  observed  that  if  the  accumulation  not  only 
of  capital,  but  of  all  forms  of  wealth,  reproductive  or  otherwise,  dur¬ 
ing  the  last  century  has  not  exceeded  three  cents  a  day  per  capita ,  or  ten 
per  cent,  upon  a  consumption  measured  at  thirty  cents  per  day,  then 
the  present  value  of  all  our  national  wealth,  aside  from  the  valuation 
put  upon  land,  would  be  nearly  three  times  the  computed  and  prob¬ 
ably  large  valuation  which  I  have  put  upon  the  present  annual  product. 
I  think  it  is  a  well-established  fact  that  such  an  accumulation  can  be 
reached  only  in  the  richest  and  most  prosperous  State.  I  made  an 
analysis  of  the  wealth  and  product  of  Massachusetts  in  1875,  with 


f 


1  The  writer  was  led  to  prepare  this  article  by  a  review  of  his  book  upon  “  The 
Distribution  of  Products,”  contributed  by  Mr.  F.  B.  Hawley,  to  the  Quarterly  Jour¬ 
nal  of  Economics  of  Harvard  University.  When  writing  this  first  article  of  the  Forum 
series  it  did  not  occur  to  him  that  it  would  be  the  first  of  a  series  of  ten  ;  hence  the 
controversial  form  in  which  the  subject  is  treated  in  this  first  number. 

'  In  the  Forum  for  May,  1889,  Mr.  Hawley  published  a  rejoinder  under  the  title  of 
“  Edward  Atkinson’s  Economic  Theories,”  in  which  he  again  contests  the  accuracy  of 
the  computation  made  by  me  in  respect  to  the  annual  product  of  1880.  He  admits  or 
accepts  the  substantial  accuracy  of  the  estimate  of  that  part  of  the  annual  product  which 
had  been  assigned  by  me  as  the  sum  of  all  wages,  small  salaries,  or  of  the  earnings  of 
the  small  farmers,  whom  he  classed  with  their  hired  men  among  those  who  earn  little 
more  than  the  cost  of  living,  computed  at  $8,100,000,000.  But  Mr.  Hawley  believes 
the  portion,  or  share,  of  the  annual  product  assigned  by  myself  to  profits,  or  to  rent  or 
interest,  or  under  whatever  other  title  the  share  of  the  capitalist  and  of  the  man  who  is 
,, — rrot  in  a  strict  sense  a  wage  earner  may  be  called,  to  be  altogether  too  small. 

Pie  estimates  the  share  falling  to  the  owners  of  property  as  the  measure  of  increase 
at  thirty-nine  hundred  million  dollars,  in  place  of  nine  hundred  million  dollars  com¬ 
puted  by  myself,  a  difference  of  three  thousand  million  dollars.  But  Mr.  Hawley  does 
not  undertake  to  estimate  the  value  of  the  annual  product  itself  ;  he  does  not  show 
where  there  was  any  material  substance  or  product  of  1880  to  be  added  to  my  computa¬ 
tion,  although  he  fully  accepts  the  principle  that  the  annual  product  or  the  product  of 
each  series  of  four  seasons  is  or  must  be  in  the  nature  of  things  the  source  of  all  rents , 
Profits,  interests,  wages ,  salaries ,  and  earnings.  Pie  says,  in  respect  to  this  principle  : 
“  Nothing  can  be  more  clearly  stated  than  this  proposition,  to  the  exact  truth  of  which 
I  cordially  assent.” 

So  far  as  I  can  comprehend  the  somewhat  obscure  methods  of  reasoning  on  the 
basis  of  which  Mr.  Hawley  contests  my  estimates,  it  is  on  the  ground  that  the  “  services 
of  wealth  ”  must  be  compensated  in  somewhat  the  measure  which  he  has  assigned 
I  f  thereto  ;  and  he  appears  to  hold,  if  I  comprehend  his  position,  that  services  of  any 
I  /  kind  for  which  compensation  is  made  areTo  be  classed  as  products.  I  confess  to  a  great 
difficulty  in  the  treatment  of  criticisms  based  on  such  a  definition. 

\  If  the  annual  product  of  food,  fuel,  fibres,  and  fabrics  of  all  kinds  is  the  source  of 
all  wages,  profits,  etc. ,  it  must  also  be  the  source  of  the  compensation  for  all  services. 


Hozv  Can  Wages  be  Increased  ? 


153 


the  aid  and  criticism  of  Carroll  D.  Wright,  and  we  could  then  barely 
find  a  sum  of  wealth  equal  to  three  years’  product  in  what  is  probably 
the  richest  State  per  capita  in  the  Union. 

If,  then,  we  cannot  find  in  existence  any  form  of  capital  or  wealth 
aside  from  the  valuation  of  land,  even  including,  as  in  the  census 
estimates,  public  property  which  is  of  the  common  wealth — and  my 
critics,  who  doubt  my  estimates  or  my  distribution  of  the  annual  prod¬ 
uct  should  find  an  annual  product  of  much  greater  value  than  my 
estimate, — then  it  would  follow  that  less  than  ten  per  cent,  has  been 
or  can  be  saved  in  a  normal  year  to  be  applied  to  the  maintenance 
and  increase  of  capital.  It  would  then  be  proved  that  want  treads 
closer  on  the  heels  of  plenty  than  even  I  have  ventured  to  suggest. 

In  the  last  analysis  it  will  appear  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
fixed  capital ;  there  is  nothing  useful  that  is  very  old  except  the  pre-~ 
metals,  and  all  life  consists  in  the  conversion  of  forces.  The 


cious 


Now  if  there  was  no  additional  product  in  the  year  1880  to  be  found  anywhere,  equal 
to  the  sum  assigned  by  Mr.  Hawley  as  compensation  for  the  services  of  wealth — and  if 
the  sum  assigned  by  me  from  the  product  to  wages,  earnings,  and  salaries  is  correct, 
how  can  the  service  of  wealth  be  compensated  in  any  greater  measure  than  by  the 
remainder  of  the  annual  product  at  the  measure  which  I  have  assigned,  if  my  compu¬ 
tation  of  the  gross  product  is  approximately  correct  ? 

I  can  only  submit  to  Mr.  Hawley,  and  those  who  concur  with  him  in  his  criticisms 
of  my  estimates,  that  they  must  take  these  estimates  for  what  they  are  worth.  My 
computation  was  at  least  an  honest  attempt  to  solve  a  difficult  problem,  and  it  has  been 
sustained  by  many  subsequent  computations.  Any  determination  of  the  respective 
shares  falling  to  capital  and  labor  must  be  of  little  value  until  the  subject  of  division, 
which  is  shared,  to  wit,  the  annual  product,  shall  be  proved  to  be  greater  than  my  com¬ 
putation.  I  fully  admit  the  possibility  of  error,  but  I  admit  only  a  small  margin  for 


error. 


I^gannot  agree,  however,  with  Mr.  Hawley  in  his  conception  that  a  set 


T  1 

''vice  for  f\ 

;ed  with  / 


which  compensation  is  made  is  the  same  as  a  product ,  and  should  be  classed 
products.  For  instance,  there  are  two  classes  of  boot-blacks — one  who  will  black  my  I 
boots  at  the  corner  of  the  street  at  a  charge  of  five  cents,  the  other  who  will  black  my 
boots  in  the  office  of  a  hotel  at  a  charge  of  ten  cents  ;  I  pay  either  sum  for  the  service 
as  I  may  choose,  and  the  boy  who  receives  the  money  spends  it  in  order  to  secure  his 
share  of  the  annual  product — food,,  fuel,  clothing,  and  shelter,  on  which  he  exists. 
This  is  one  of  the  minor  services,  rendered  by  the  relatively  poor  to  the  relatively  rich, 
which  Mr.  Hawley  treats.  In  this  form  of  service  the  boot-black  obtains  his  share  of 
the  annual  product. 

On  the  basis  of  Mr.  Hawley’s  reasoning,  however,  the  boot-black  at  the  corner  of  / 
the  street  who  renders  the  service  at  five  cents  adds  five  cents  to  the  annual  product 
of  the  country,  while  the  boot-black  who  renders  the  service  in  the  office  of  the  hotel  at 
ten  cents  adds  ten  cents  to  the  annual  product,  and,  therefore,  to  the  wealth  which  is  t& 
be  divided.  If  this  view  is  correct,  it  would  be  incumbent  upon  Mr.  Flawley  always 
to  have  his  boots  blacked  in  the  hotel  rather  than  at  the  corner  of  the  street,  as  he  will 

1 

thereby  add  to  the  sum  of  services  which,  he  says,  must  be  classed  as  products,  and  he 
would  thereby  increase  the  annual  product  of  the  people  of  this  country  which  is  subject 
to  division  by  ten  cents’  worth  every  time  he  has  his  boots  blacked.  J 


154  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 

only  capital  which  is  of  permanent  value  is  immaterial,  the  experience 

of  generations  and  the  development  of  science.  It  is  not  given  to 

~ — »■—_  _  _ _ _  — - 

material  capital  to  save  any  one  generation  from  the  work  of  getting 
its  own  living  ;  all  that  it  can  accomplish  is  to  lighten  the  labor  ;  the 
condition  on  which  it  attains  its  own  income  is,  that  it  shall  render 
full  service  for  all  that  it  receives  and  that  it  shall  also  render  the 
general  struggle  for  life  less  and  less  severe. 


i 


II. 


MUST  HUMANITY  STARVE  AT  LAST?1 

IN  a  review  of  my  analysis  of  the  distribution  of  products,  in  the 
Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics,  published  for  Harvard  Universi¬ 
ty,  to  which  I  made  a  rejoinder  in  part  in  the  July  number  of  the 
Forum ,  a  much  wider  issue  is  raised  than  the  mere  question  of  the 
accuracy  of  my  figures  of  distribution.  Having  treated  some  of  the 
questions  of  fact  which  are  at  issue,  a  short  treatise  on  the  theory  of 
wages  may  be  timely. 

My  critic  says  :  “  Mr.  Atkinson’s  results  will  not  be  so  readily 
accepted  when  his  very  inadequate  comprehension  of  the  theories  of 
Malthus  and  of  Ricardo  are  called  to  mind.”  Again  he  says  :  “  Among 
economists,  especially  among  those  who  believe  that  statistical  investi¬ 
gation  can  rarely  be  fruitful  of  any  valuable  results  except  in  the  hands 
of  an  investigator  well  grounded  in  economic  theory,  Mr.  Atkinson’s 
results  will  not  be  readily  accepted.”  In  this  latter  statement  my  critic 
presents  an  example  of  the  danger  to  which  the  student  of  books  is 
exposed  in  becoming  a  mere  interpreter  of  the  hypotheses  of  writers 
who  may  have  failed  to  adopt  a  true  inductive  method,  or  who  may  not 
have  been  capable  observers.  Possibly  Malthus  and  Ricardo  may  have 
applied  great  ability  to  false  theories,  by  which  a  vast  deal  of  mischief 
has  been  done,  and  it  may  not  be  consistent  with  true  economic  science 
to  adopt  their  hypotheses. 

It  may  be  fully  admitted  that  in  the  physical  sciences  some  of  the 
most  brilliant  results  have  been  attained  by  deductive  methods  based 
on  hypotheses  or  a  priori  concepts,  but  one  may  well  distrust  such 
methods  in  economic  science.  If  the  a  priori  concepts  of  Malthus  and 
Ricardo  are  to  be  received  as  demonstrations  of  science,  then  of  what 
use  are  all  our  efforts  to  prevent  war,  to  stop  famine,  to  alleviate 
poverty,  or  to  save  life  from  disease  and  pestilence  ?  The  more  we 
accomplish  for  the  present  generations  of  men  the  more  must  posterity 
suffer,  the  more  urgent  must  the  struggle  for  life  become,  the  more  fear¬ 
ful  must  be  the  anarchy  when  the  whole  art  of  living  can  consist  only  in 
securing  a  sufficient  subsistence  for  the  few  by  any  method  of  force  or 

1  Reprinted  from  the  Forum. 

155 


156  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 

fraud,  even  at  the  cost  of  those  who  starve.  In  other  words,  if  human 
passions  and  human  nature  lead  to  a  disproportion  of  population  in 
ratio  to  the  means  of  subsistence,  or  if  the  mind  of  man  applied  as  a 
factor  to  production  cannot  provide  for  this  tendency  of  population  to 
increase  without  resort  either  to  violent  or  to  purely  artificial  methods 
for  checking  it,  then  indeed  does  political  economy  become  a  “  dismal 
science  ”  ;  and  may  we  not  as  well  “  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrowT  we 
die,”  without  taking  any  thought  for  the  future  of  our  race  ? 

The  fault  of  these  hypotheses  may  be  that  their  proponents  had  not 
taken  cognizance  of  the  human  mind  as  a  factor  in  material  production. 
They  were  based  on  very  narrow  observation,  and  when  they  were  put 
forth  the  science  of  statistics  had  little  more  than  an  elementary  exist¬ 
ence.  One  may  well  ask  whether  so  acute  a  reasoner  as  either  Malthus 
or  Ricardo  would  have  ventured  to  present  either  hypotheses,  had 
either  one  conceived  that  within  a  short  period  ironstone  would  be  con¬ 
verted  into  food  for  man  and  beast,  by  grinding  into  powder  the 
phosphoric  slag  which  is  the  waste  product  of  the  iron  furnace  under 
the  basic  process  of  .making  steel  and  using  it  as  a  fertilizer. 

I  have  ventured  to  doubt  the  validity  of  the  hypotheses  of  Malthus 
and  Ricardo,  whether  I  comprehended  them  or  not,  because  they  have 
not  yet  been  sustained  either  by  experience,  by  observation,  or  by  sta¬ 
tistics.  The  hypothesis  of  Malthus  is  very  simple  ;  it  may  be  stated  in  a 
very  few  words,  to  wit  :  “  there  is  a  tendency  of  the  population  of  the  world 
to  increase  faster  than  the  means  of  subsiste?icef  He  even  held  that,  while 
population  might  increase  in  a  geometrical  ratio,  the  means  of  sub¬ 
sistence  might  increase  only  in  an  arithmetical  ratio.  The  hypothesis 
of  Ricardo  in  respect  to  rent  is  also  very  simple  ;  he  holds  that  economic 
rent  is  the  margin  of  product  of  the  better  or  the  more  accessible  land  over 
and  above  the  returns  which  can  be  obtained  from  the  poorer  or  more  dis¬ 
tant  land ,  of  which  the  product  will  only  repay  the  cultivator  for  the  cost 
of  production.  Both  these  hypotheses  rest  upon  the  so-called  law  of 
diminishing  returns  from  land,  under  which  it  is  held  that  land  may 
fail  to  yield  an  equal  increment  of  product  in  ratio  to  equal  increments 
of  labor  and  capital  expended  upon  it.  If  these  hypotheses  are  pushed 
to  their  logical  conclusion,  and  if  there  is  no  countervailing  force 
which  may  ultimately  bring  land  and  life,  or  population  and  produc¬ 
tion  to  an  equilibrium,  does  it  not  of  necessity  follow  that  all  our 
humanitarian  or  philanthropic  efforts  may  only  make  the  final  catas¬ 
trophe  so  much  the  greater  ? 

Admitting  that  a  century  or  less  is  quite  insufficient  to  warrant 
absolute  inductions  from  experience,  yet  it  may  well  be  considered 
that  there  has  not  been  a  single  decade,  since  the  hypothesis  of 
Malthus  was  first  presented,  in  which  the  means  of  subsistence  have 
not  gained  very  rapidly  upon  the  population  of  the  world. 


Must  Humanity  Starve  at  Last  f  157 

What  are  the  facts  with  respect  to  the  hypothesis  regarding  rent 
presented  by  Ricardo  ? 

First.  Experience  proves  that  a  given  and  limited  area  of  land  of 
high  fertility,  when  cultivated  for  a  series  of  years  in  a  certain  manner, 
will  doubtless  yield  diminishing  returns  in  proportion  to  the  amount 
of  labor  and  capital  expended  upon  it.  Such  land  may  finally  cease 
to  yield  a  profit  sufficient  to  pay  the  cost  of  cultivating  it,  in  which 
case  there  can  be  no  economic  rent,  and  the  land  may  for  a  time  go 
out  of  cultivation,  until  the  pressure  of  population  reduces  the  stand¬ 
ard  of  living  to  such  an  extent  as  again  to  compel  its  cultivation  even 
for  the  most  meagre  returns.  Such  is  the  fact  in  regard  to  consider¬ 
able  areas  of  land  in  England  to-day. 

The  present  condition  of  Great  Britain,  under  the  system  of  large 
entailed  estates  which  have  been  cultivated  for  a  comparatively  short 
historic  period  to  the  present  time,  mainly  by  tenant-farmers  under 
leases  which  prevent  free  use,  gives  one  example  of  the  failure  of  land 
to  yield  adequate  returns  for  the  kind  of  labor  and  the  method  of 
directing  the  capital  expended  upon  it.  The  failure  may  not  happen 

for  lack  of  abundant  product,  but  because  the  product  is  of  high  cost 

* 

and  not  suitable  to  present  conditions.  It  does  not  follow  that  some 
other  method  would  not  yield  adequate  returns.  Again,  the  present 
condition  of  many  parts  of  the  continent  of  Europe  under  the  system 
of  forced  subdivision  of  land,  by  which  the  parcels  have  become  too 
small  for  application  of  machinery  to  them,  affords  another  example  of 
the  limited  truth  of  the  hypothesis  of  diminishing  returns. 

But  both  in  Great  Britain  and  on  the  Continent  examples  may  be 
found  of  such  exceptions  to  this  supposed  law  as  to  invalidate  the 
rule  ;  while,  again,  the  whole  area  in  which  this  alleged  rule  appar¬ 
ently  finds  limited  support  constitutes  so  small  a  fraction  of  the  surface 
of  the  earth  as  to  make  any  deduction  from  the  results  obtained  from 
it  a  mere  exception,  or  else  a  result  attained  under  such  exceptional 
conditions  as  to  be  of  no  force  whatever  in  sustaining  a  universal  law 
supposed  to  cover  general  production. 

Secondly.  A  given  area  of  land  of  high  fertility  may  be  divided 
into  parts  by  a  line.  On  one  side  th$  cultivation  may  be  carried  on 
as  in  the  foregoing  examples,  and  the  land  may  be  finally  exhausted, 
so  far  as  that  kind  of  cultivation  is  concerned.  On  the  other  side  of 
the  land  of  the  same  quality,  treated  by  different  men,  or  by  a  suc¬ 
cession  of  men  of  a  different  or  more  intelligent  type,  or  working 
under  better  institutions,  may  yield  a  larger  and  larger  product 
through  a  period  of  at  least  a  century.  This  has  been  proved  in  the 
history  of  this  country.  A  fair  example  may  perhaps  be  found  in  the 
relative  conditions  of  the  central  part  of  the  State  of  New  York,  as 
compared  to  some  of  the  more  fertile  portions  of  the  land  of  Lower 


1 58  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 

Canada  inhabited  by  the  French  population.  In  the  one  case  a 
steadily  increasing  product  may  be  found  in  proportion  to  the  capital 
and  labor  ;  in  the  other,  diminishing  returns  in  ratio  to  population, 
accompanied  by  the  forced  migration  of  the  French  habitans. 

Land  of  the  same  original  quality,  in  the  same  field,  divided  only  by 
a  line,  may,  therefore,  on  the  one  hand,  prove  the  law  of  diminishing 
returns  and  may  be  cited  as  an  example  of  the  entire  loss  of  economic 
rent  ;  while  on  the  other  side  of  the  line,  under  a  better  mode  of 
treatment,  a  law  of  increasing  returns  and  of  higher  rent  may  be 
proved.  Of  course  there  may  or  must  be  a  final  limit,  and  by  admit¬ 
ting  a  final  limit  it  may  be  held  that  the  hypothesis  of  Malthus  is  so 
far  justified  ;  perhaps,  however,  at  so  remote  a  period  as  not  to  be 
entitled  to  present  consideration,  if  ever. 

Thirdly.  It  may  be  asked,  Where  is  the  man  who  can  yet  measure 
the  potential  of  an  acre  of  land  anywhere,  or  where  is  there  an  acre  of 
land  of  which  it  may  be  positively  affirmed  that  it  cannot  yield  a  larger 
product  than  it  has  ever  yet  done,  in  ratio  to  the  labor  and  capital  which 
may  be  put  upon  it  ?  Who  can  say  that  there  is  not  some  other  limit 
to  the  increase  of  population  than  the  violent  methods  which  have 
heretofore  been  held  to  be  the  principal  retarding  forces  in  the  case  ? 
May  it  not  be  held  that  the  a  priori  concepts  of  Malthus  in  regard  to 
population  and  of  Ricardo  in  respect  to  rent  are,  to  say  the  least,  not 
yet  proven  ?  No  man  can  venture  to  define  the  point  at  which  the 
equilibrium  between  life  and  land  or  between  population  and  pro¬ 
duction  may  be  destroyed,  or  the  utmost  limit  at  which  it  can  be 
maintained  ;  for  the  reason  that  no  one  can  yet  venture  to  limit  the 
applications  of  science  and  invention  to  the  subsistence  of  man.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  assume  that  there  must  be  artificial  restrictions  upon 
the  increase  of  population.  Just  as  the  most  grasping  and  penurious 
money-getter  accumulates  capital  and  applies  it  to  uses  benefiting  the 
community,  while  he  costs  only  what  he  himself  consumes,  working 
almost  automatically  and  without  any  knowledge  of  his  own  functions 
or  utility  in  the  social  order,  and  thus  becoming  a  conservator  of  the 
force  of  capital,  so  may  there  be  laws  for  the  conservation  of  that  form 
of  force  which  constitutes  human  life  of  which  science  has  as  yet  no 
comprehension.  Land  itself  may  be  exhausted  when  treated  as  a 
mine  ;  it  may  be  maintained  when  worked  as  a  laboratory.  Its  potential 
in  the  increase  of  fertility  and  production,  when  used  as  a  tool  or  in¬ 
strument  for  diverting  nitrogen  and  carbon  from  the  atmosphere  and 
converting  these  elements  into  food  for  man  and  beast,  is  as  yet  an 
unknown  quantity. 

In  support  of  these  views,  and  in  answer  to  the  question  whether  the 
soil  is  not  to  be  considered  as  a  laboratory  rather  than  as  a  mine,  I  am 
permitted  to  give  the  following  extract  from  a  letter  by  Prof.  W.  O. 


Must  Humanity  Starve  at  Last  ? 


1 59 


Atwater,  than  whom  no  one  has  done  more  excellent  work  in  develop¬ 
ing  the  resources  of  fertility,  or  in  the  application  of  science  to  the  use 
of  land  as  an  instrument  of  production  : 

“  It  is  right  to  consider  the  soil  as  a  laboratory  and  not  as  a  mine,  responding  in  just 
proportion  to  the  intelligence  and  work  put  upon  it.  Of  course  there  is  a  limit  to  the 
possible  production,  but  it  transcends  all  ideas  that  ever  occurred  to  people  in  Malthus’ 
time.  The  soil  is  the  place  of  growth  of  the  plant  and  the  source  of  part  of  its  food. 
Given  plenty  of  water  and  food  and  proper  temperature,  and  the  amount  of  produce  in 
a  given  area  is  immense.  Professor  Nobbe,  a  German  experimenter,  raised  a  single 
plant  of  buckwheat  eight  feet  high  and  bearing  nearly  eight  hundred  perfect  seeds,  and 
this  not  in  sand  at  all,  but  in  water  containing  proper  plant-food.  Similar  results  are 
obtained  with  other  plants.  Our  common  ideas  of  area  and  soil-product  are  based  upon 
the  experience  in  which  the  factors  promised  in  future  progress  are  left  out  of  account. 
The  possible  production  of  a  given  area  is  far  outside  our  usual  calculations. 

“  The  problem  of  the  world’s  future  supply  is  conditioned  upon  two  things  :  one  is 
energy,  power  for  manufacture  and  transport  of  plant-food,  and  transport  of  water  ; 
the  other  is  the  supply  of  nitrogen.  With  the  unmeasured  energy  of  wind,  flowing 
water,  and  tide,  and  the  possibility  of  storage,  transfer,  and  use  of  energy  by  electricity 
and  other  agencies,  we  may  hope  that  the  science  of  the  future  will  provide  the  power. 
Late  research  makes  an  abundant  nitrogen  supply  probable.  Leaving  out  of  account 
the  question  of  present  pecuniary  cost  and  profit,  the  conditions  of  transport  of  plant- 
food,  cultivation  of  soil,  and  water-supply  for  the  maximum  production  are  theoretically 
capable  of  being  provided.  Science  and  discovery  have  already  found  in  the  earth 
practically  inexhaustible  stores  of  all  the  ingredients  of  plant-food  but  carbon  and 
nitrogen.  The  atmosphere  supplies  an  abundance  of  carbon  to  plants  from  its  con¬ 
stantly  replenished  store  of  carbonic  acid.  This  reduces  the  problem  of  ultimate  supply 
of  plant-food  to  one  of  nitrogen  supply.  Four  fifths  of  the  air  are  nitrogen,  but  the 
question  is  whether  this  can  be  made  available  to  plants.  For  a  number  of  years  the 
current  doctrine  has  been  that  it  cannot,  but  late  experiments  indicate  that  certain 
plants  .  do  have  the  power  of  assimilating  atmospheric  nitrogen  in  large  quantities. 
Aside  from  investigations  in  this  country  (my  own  of  which  you  already  know),  a  num¬ 
ber  have  lately  been  made  in  France,  and  particularly  in  Germany,  which  bring  the 
most  direct  and  convincing  evidence  that  legumes,  including,  probably,  clover,  have 
this  power  of  obtaining  nitrogen  from  the  air.  It  will  interest  you  personally  to  know 
that  we  are  just  commencing  a  new  series  of  experiments  here  on  this  subject,  with 
pea,  alfalfa,  cow-pea,  clover,  maize,  and  other  plants.  .  .  .  Viewed  from  this 
standpoint,  the  prospect  for  the  future  of  the  race  is  not  one  of  Malthusian  dreadful¬ 
ness,  but  full  of  exalting  inspiration.” 

The  a  priori  objection  to  which  the  hypotheses  of  both  Malthus  and 
Ricardo  are  subjected  in  my  own  mind  is,  that  they  tend  to  promote  a 
contest  between  labor  and  capital  ;  to  antagonism  between  the  haves 
and  the  have-nots  ;  to  ultimate  destruction  rather  than  to  the  conser¬ 
vation  of  life  ;  and  they  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  the  struggle  for 
life  must  inevitably  become  more  difficult  and  more  violent,  and  must 
inevitably  fail. 

In  all  problems  in  what  is  called  political  economy,  which  are 
commonly  regarded  as  relating  wholly  to  the  production  and  distribu¬ 
tion  of  the  material  substances  constituting  wealth  or  necessary  to 


160  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 

material  existence,  one  is  inevitably  brought  back  to  the  immaterial  or 
metaphysical.  The  mind  of  man  when  applied  to  the  direction  of 
natural  forces  is  the  principal  agent  in  material  production,  in  fact,  the 
controlling  element.  Those  who  claim  that  labor  is  the  source  of  all 
production  are  utterly  misled  because  they  do  not  admit  this  funda¬ 
mental  principle.  May  it  not,  therefore,  be  more  consistent  with  the 
concepts  of  an  enlightened  faith  of  any  type  in  which  order  is  recog¬ 
nized  in  the  universe,  to  present  an  hypothesis  or  a  priori  theory  that, 
as  the  mental  faculties  of  man  are  more  developed  and  are  more 
intelligently  applied  to  the  conversion  of  the  forces  of  nature  into 
material  products,  the  general  struggle  for  life  will  become  less  and  not 
greater  ? 

War,  pestilence,  and  famine  have  devastated  the  world  and  have 
diminished  the  means  of  subsistence,  during  the  last  two  centuries,  far 
more  than  they  have  rendered  the  subsistence  of  the  remaining  popula¬ 
tion,  whose  increase  has  been  retarded  by  them,  more  easy  and 
adequate.  On  the  other  hand,  where  peace  and  order  have  reigned 
production  has  been  increased,  and  the  interdependence  of  men  has 
been  more  fully  acknowledged.  As  it  has  become  more  and 
more  fully  admitted  in  political  science  that  each  man,  each  race, 
each  state,  each  nation  serves  the  other  by  exchange,  the  pressure 
of  want  has  been  diminished,  and  one  can  dimly  foresee  the  time  when 
the  prophecy  of  the  poet  may  become  a  living  truth,  when 

“  Down  the  dark  future,  through  long  generations, 

The  echoing  sounds  of  war  grow  fainter  and  then  cease.” 

Have  the  orthodox  English  economists  since  Adam  Smith  ever 
overcome  the  insular  quality  of  their  work,  or  sufficiently  counted  upon 
the  mind  of  man  as  a  factor  in  material  production  ?  Perhaps  these 
questions  would  occur  only  to  one  who  has  studied  economic  problems 
by  the  observation  of  the  facts  of  life  rather  than  in  the  treatises 
on  which  our  economic  reasoning  has  heretofore  been  based.  Is  it  not 
j\  desirable  that  more  attention  should  be  given  to  the  method  of  Adam 
X  jiSmith  than  to  the  dogmas  of  Malthus,  Ricardo,  and  Mill  ?  If  so,  then 
the  facts  which  are  now  being  gathered  by  statisticians,  especially 
in  this  country,  may  hereafter  serve*  to  give  a  broad  extension  of  the 
narrow  and  insular  habits  of  thought  which  the  students  of  political 
economy  have  denved "mainly  from  English  writers.  Let  it  not  be 
supposed  for  an  instant  that  I  assume  that  there  can  be  an  American 
system  of  political  economy  as  distinguished  from  an  English  system. 
Such  a  conception  would  be  utterly  inconsistent  with  any  true  idea  of 
science.  Yet,  is  it  not  true  that  habits  of  thought  are  unconsciously 
controlled  by  the  environment  of  the  writer  ?  Witness  the  broad 
■extension  of  the  English  commercial  system  and  the  very  narrow  and 


Must  Humanity  Starve  at  Last  ? 


161 


limited  view  which  still  obtains  in  respect  to  the  local  institutions 
of  Great  Britain.  Witness  the  incapacity  of  Parliament  to  conduct  a 
centralized  system  of  government,  especially  in  respect  to  Ireland, 
while  the  members  of  Parliament  appear  to  be  equally  incapable 
of  grasping  the  idea  of  home  rule  and  local  self-government  under  the 
central  sustaining  power  of  a  great  nation. 

On  the  other  hand,  have  not  the  people  of  the  United  States  devel¬ 
oped  the  broadest  system  of 'mutual  service  and  support  in  respect 
trr^flTmr^  commerce  and  the  conduct  of  their  home  affairs? 

home  rule  and  local  self-government  being  maintained  in  the  strictest 
sense,  backed  by  the  whole  power  of  the  nation  ;  while  the  ideas  of  the 
people  as  well  as  of  their  legislators  are  distinctly  provincial  and 
limited  in  all  that  relates  to  the  great  commerce  among  nations. 

When  the  day  dawns  in  which  the  English-speaking  peoples  of  the 
world  may  become  united  under  a  system  which  shall  give  to  every 
man  the  utmost  liberty  consistent  with  the  rights  of  his  fellow-men  ; 
when  national  prejudice  is  abated,  and  the  whole  great  body  moves 
onward  in  its  effort  to  benefit  the  people  of  the  world  by  mutual 
service,  the  word  will  then  go  forth  to  all  other  nations,  Disarm  or 
starve.  The  Statue  of  Liberty  which  stands  at  the  mouth  of  the  great 
harbor  of  our  country  may  then,  in  truth,  enlighten  the  world.  This 
is  the  vision  which  lies  back  of  the  dry  columns  of  figures,  and  which 
brings  the  imagination  into  play  on  the  part  of  him  who  can  read 
between  their  lines. 

I  venture  tcTb e  1  fe've  'thar'althoTrgh  the  province  of  statistical  science 
,has  .been  held  subordinate  to  that  of  political  economy  or  political 
science,  it  may  yet  become  of  paramount  importance  to  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  either  branch  of  study.  Doubtful  as  statistics  may  be,  much  V 
asThey  depend  on  the  sincerity  of  purpose  and  integrity  of  him  who 
compiles  them,  and  easy  as  it  is  for  them  to  become  twisted  and 
confused,  even  by  the  unconscious  bias  of  the  observer  or  compiler, 
they  may  yet-become  a  necessary  foundation  for  any  true  inductive 
m e t h od  m-political  economy,  and  nausf,  theFefd're7'~b'e"placed~--en---arn- 
evenjdane.  to  say  the  least,  in  the  estimation  of  the  student. 

For  this  reason  it  might  well  be  that  travelling  scholarships  should 
bejsstablished  in  universities  as  prizes  in  the  department  of  political 
economy,  in  order  that  wider  and  more  accurate  investigations  may  be 
entered  upon,  whereby  the  a  priori  concepts  of  most  of  the  vmferS  'ofi 
the  text-books  may  be  tested,  and  may  be  either  sustained  or  put  aside, 
as  !:hev  are  foundto  be  consistent  or  otherwise  wTtH~lHd~^cFs“'dr 
human  life.  The  real  man  can  be  observed  ;  has  the  ecofiomic  man, 
who  would  bring  into  action  all  the  processes  conceived  by  writers  of 
the  type  of  Ricardo  and  Mill,  yet  been  discovered  ?  Is  he  not  also  an 

hypothesis  ?  It  would,  of  course,  be  futile  to  attempt  to  do  more  than 

ii 


V 


-A"' 


v 


162 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


to  present  the  elements  of  this  problem  within  the  limits  of  a  short 
essay  ;  but  it  ought  now  to  be  observed  that  most  of  the  causes  of 
antagonism  between  labor  and  capital,  as  well  as  the  basis  of  most  of 
the  undertakings  of  the  socialist,  the  anarchist,  and  the  communist, 
find  their  justification  in  one  or  the  other  of  the  hypotheses  of  MaUhus 
or  Ricardo. 

The  abstract  nature  of  the  concepts  of  political  economy  may 
perhaps  be  more  fully  comprehended  by  a  consideration  of  the 
deplorable  results  which  have  ensued  from  the  general  adoption  of 
false  theories  in  respect  to  trade.  The  folly  of  the  mercantile  system 
attained  its  most  pernicious  result  in  the  attempt  of  Great  Britain  to 
oontrol  the  trade  of  the  colonies  of  America  for  the  supposed 
exclusive  benefit  of  her  own  people.  Had  the  “Wealth  of  Nations’' 
been  written  fifty  years  earlier,  and  had  it  attained  the  influence  in 
1760  which  it  began  to  attain  in  1824,  under  the  lead  of  Huskisson, 
there  might  have  been  no  violent  separation  of  the  colonies  of  America 
from  the  mother  country. 

♦ 

The  so-called  “  iron  law  of  wages  ”  developed  by  Lasalle  and  Carl 
M^rx,  i^der  which  it  is-  assumed  that  the  rate  of  wages  will  be  kept 
down  to  the  limits  of  a  meagre  subsistence,  is  accepted  by  the  anar¬ 
chists  and  communists  of  Europe  and  their  few  representatives  in  this 
country.  It  is  an  absolute  fallacy  except  in  dynastic  states  overbur¬ 
dened  with  armies  and  debts.  The  misconceptions  of  fact  in  respect 
to  the  progress  from  poverty,  on  the  part  of  the  great  body  of  working 
people  in  this  country,  and  the  acceptance  of  Ricardo’s  theory  of  rent, 
lie  at  the  foundation  of  the  fallacious  reasoning  of  Henry  George 
respecting  the  private  ownership  of  land  ;  and  so  one  might  go  on 
throughout  the  list  of  misconceptions  in  regard  to  abstract  theories  or 
hypotheses  which  have  been  the  occasion  of  more  wars  and  greater 
misery  than  all  other  causes  of  violence  combined,  not  even  excepting 
the  conflict  of  creeds. 

If  the  function  of  government  were  admitted  to  be  to  give  each 
man  an  equal  opportunity  to  make  use  of  the  benefits  which  science 
and  invention  place  at  his  disposal,  and  to  do,  through  the  intervention 
of  government,  only  such  actual  work  as  can  be  done  by  society  in  its 
corporate  capacity  better  than  individuals  can  do  it  for  themselves, 
most  of  the  obstructions  which  legislation  has  placed  in  the  way  of 
mutual  service  would  soon  be  removed,  and  the  true  law  of  human 
progress  would  then  develop  itself.  Wages  would  then  increase  to  the 
maximum  within  the  limit  of  a  product  attained  under  the  most 
favorable  conditions. 


III. 


PROGRESS  FROM  POVERTY. 


HE  purpose  of  the  present  article  is  to  bring  once  more  into 


notice  certain  facts  which  the  writer  has  given  in  other  publica¬ 


tions,  which  are  not  only  wholly  inconsistent  with  the  hypothe¬ 
ses  of  Malthus  and  Ricardo,  but  which  must  be  disproved  by  Henry 
George  and  other  writers  of  his  class,  who  attribute  the  admitted 
poverty  that  is  to  be  found  in  the  worst  quarters  of  our  great  cities 
wholly  to  faults  in  the  government  and  in  the  laws,  before  their  empiri¬ 
cal  methods  of  abolishing  poverty  can  be  entitled  to  any  serious  con¬ 
sideration.  In  recent  discussions  these  statements  have  been  cited  as 
authoritative  alike  by  the  advocates  of  free  trade  and  of  protection,  of 
paper  money,  of  the  single  gold- standard,  and  of  the  limited  coinage 
of  silver.  As  yet  no  one  has  contested  the  substantial  accuracy  of  the 
conclusions  which  I  have  drawn  from  these  data.  The  only  exception 
taken  to  them  has  been  that  they  are  partial  and  limited  and  have  not 
covered  as  wide  a  field  as  they  ought.  In  presenting  them  I  have 
myself  always  said  that  they. might  be  incomplete,  and  that  their  pur¬ 
pose  was  rather  to  give  a  direction  to  the  line  of  future  investigation 
than  to  present  conclusions.  That  direction  has  been  given  in  the 


establishment  of  the  National  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  and  in  the 


resolutions  which  have  been  passed  by  Congress  instructing  its  officers 


how  to^proceed  in  their  inquiries.  Of  their  sufficiency  each  student 


must  judge  for  himself. 

It  has  long  been  apparent  that  the  circulation  of  a  depreciated 
promise  of  the  government,  issued  in  time  of  war  for  the  collection  of 
a  forced  loan,  as  well  as  the  pressure  of  the  war  itself  in  its  effect 
upon  prices,  had  vitiated  all  deductions  by  which  the  condition  of 
men  at  one  period  as  compared  to  another  could  be  determined.  No 
true  comparison  of  conditions  can  be  made  in  terms  of  money,  when 
the  money  itself  varies  in  value  ;  therefore  some  other  standard  must 
be  adopted  in  order  that  just  conclusions  may  be  reached  in  regard  to 
these  relative  conditions.  The  mere  rate  of  wages,  given  in  terms  of 
money,  has  proved  to  be  as  fallacious  a  standard  by  which  to  measure 


1  Reprinted  from  the  Forum . 
163 


164 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


the  relative  conditions  of  working  people  in  this  country  during  the  last 
twenty-five  years,  as  it  now  is  when  made  use  of  for  comparing  the 
conditions  of  workmen  in  this  country  with  those  of  other  countries. 
The  rate  of  wages  in  itself  constitutes  no  standard  whatever  for  the 
comparison  of  conditions,  even  when  the  same  money  standard  is 
in  force,  because  the  cost  of  labor  cannot  be  determined  by  a  mere 
comparison  of  price  or  rate  of  wages.  I  have  therefore  endeavored  to 
establish  a  multiple  standard  for  the  comparison  of  the  relative  condi¬ 
tions  of  workmen  and  capitalists  in  this  country  at  different  dates 
during  the  last  twenty-five  years.  This  multiple  standard  consists  of 
equal  quantities  of  the  same  kinds  of  food,  fuel,  and  materials  for 
clothing,  corresponding  to  the  average  daily  consumption  of  an  adult 
workman  in  the  Eastern  or  Middle  States. 
j  I  first  entered  upon  the  investigation  of  the  statistics  of  the  con¬ 
sumption  of  food  by  quantity.  I  ascertained  the  average  quantity  and 
cost  of  each  of  the  different  elements  of  food  consumed  in  the  factory 
boarding-houses  of  New  England  and  of  the  Middle  States,  such  sup¬ 
plies  being  usually  purchased  with  due  economy  and  used  with  fair 
regard  to  preventing  waste.  Havings  established  this  food  standard, 
pleasures  were  next  taken  to  bring  the  subject  to  the  attention  of  the 
iChief  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  in  Massachusetts,  Commis¬ 
sioner  Carroll  D.  Wright,  and  at  a  later  period  of  the  Chiefs  of  the 
Bureaus  of  other  States.  The  result  of  these  various  investigations 
has  been  that  the  average  ration  or  portion  of  food  such  as  actually 
constitutes  the  daily  supply  of  an  average  artisan,  mechanic,  or  other 
workman,  has  been  well  established  in  all  its  elements.  It  varies  a 
little  in  different  parts  of  the  country  according  to  the  relative  con¬ 
ditions.  This  average  daily  ration  was  next  submitted  to  Professor  W. 
O.  Atwater  for  analysis.  The  respective  proportions  of  the  nutrients, 
so-called,  i.  e .,  of  starch,  fat,  and  protein  or  nitrogenous  material,  were 
found  to  be  much  above  the  normal  standard  of  good  subsistence.  The 
elements  of  this  average  daily  ration  are  given  in  a  subsequent  table. 

VI  next  computed  the  average  annual  consumption  of  the  materials 
for  clothing,  of  boots  and  shoes,  and  of  fuel.  Having  reached  a 
certain  standard  in  yards  and  quantity,  I  multiplied  this  standard  by 
the  population  of  1880,  counting  two  children  of  ten  years  or  under  as 
one  adult,  and  found  that  the  result  of  this  computation  more  than 
exhausted  the  entire  product  and  import  of  textile  fabrics  and  other 
necessities  of  life  treated  in  that  year.  '  The  proportion  assigned  would, 
however,  be  warranted  by  the  conditions  of  life  in  the  Northern  and 
Middle  States  as  compared  to  the  Southern  or  extreme  Western  States. 

£  next  attempted  to  establish  a  unit  of  rent  or  shelter,  but  the  con¬ 
ditions  in  different  parts  of  the  country  were  found  to  be  so  variable 
as  to  make  this  attempt  impracticable.  It  became  apparent,  however, 


Progress  and  Poverty. 


165 


that  the  standard  of  rent  or  cost  of  the  dwelling-places  occupied  by 
wo rk ing~peo]^lTad^"varie~dr~since  i860  in  substantially  the  same  pro¬ 
portion  as  the  cost  of  the  materials  for  food,  for  fuel,  and  for  clothing. 

The  proportions  of  these  elements  of  life,  namely,  food,  fuel,  and 
materials  for  clothing,  which  are  assigned  to  a  day’s  or  a  year’s  supply 
in  the  subsequent  table,  corresponding  to  the  average  consumption  in 
the  Eastern  and  Middle  States,  are  doubtless  above  the  average  con¬ 
sumption  of  the  whole  country,  especially  in  respect  to  tea,  coffee,  and 
sugar  ;  but  although  such  is  the  fact,  and  although  the  actual  consump¬ 
tion  of  food,  clothing,  and  fuel  may  not  in  any  single  case  have 
corresponded  identically  with  this  multiple  standard,  yet  it  may  be 
safely  assumed  that  as  the  prices  of  the  necessities  of  life  which  are 
included  in  this  standard  have  varied,  so  have  the  prices  of  the  actual 
quantities  consumed  also  varied. 

It  may.  also  be  remarked  that -in  the  northern  parts  of  this  country 
the  price  paid  for  the  materials  for  food  amounts  to  about  one  half  the 
annual  expenditure  in  the  family  of  an  average  workman  ;  in  the 
family  of  the  common  laborer  the  price  of  food  is  more  than  one  half 
the  annual  expenditure.  If  to  the  cost  of  food  be  added  the  price  of 
fuel  and  materials  for  clothing,  then  the  several  elements  included  in 
the  multiple  standard  correspond  substantially  to  about  seventy  per 
cent,  of  the  total  cost  of  living  in  the  family  of  an  average  workman. 
If  it  be  admitted  that  as  the  cost  to  the  workman  of  these  necessities 
of  life  has  varied,  so  has  the  cost  or  price  of  rent  or  shelter  and 
sundries  varied,  we  then  have  in  this  multiple  standard  a  fair  gauge  by 


which  to  test  the  variation  in  the  purchasing  power  of  paper  money  as 
compared  to  specie  at  different  periods,  and  also  the  purchasing  power 
of  a  day’s  or  a  year’s  earnings  in  time  of  peace  or  war,  or  under  the 
changing  conditions  which  were  first  brought  about  by  the  depreciation 
of  paper  money  and  subsequently  repeated  during  the  long  struggle 
for  the  restoration  of  the  specie  standard. 

f  ^  had—tnade  great  progress  in  providing  data  for  this  multiple 
standard  before  the  pubtication  of  the  twentieth  volume  of  the  United 
ptates  Census  on  Prices  and  Wages,  compiled  by  Mr.  Joseph  D.  Weeks  ; 
I  was  therefore  in  a  position  to  make  use  of  this  volume  and  to  check 
off  the  data  contained  in  it.  I  could  verify  many  of  the  tables  from 
my  own  knowledge  of  the  facts  governing  many  of  the  establishments 
named  therein.  It  is  also  plain  to  any  one  who  is  accustomed  to  the 
examination  of  statistics  that  very  many  of  the  returns  in  this  volume 
are  correct,  while  a  few  testify  to  want  of  care  in  their  compilation. 
The  latter  may  be  readily  set  aside.  I  was  also  in  a  position  to  add  to 
the  data  of  this  volume,  which  came  down  only  to  18 So,  inclusive, 
Correspon dihgligures  for  the  years  i88^flmd  1886,  derived  of  coprse 
from  a  much  narrower  circle  of  establishments. 


y 


> 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


1 66 

In  making  selections  from  this  volume  for  the  comparison  of  the 
purchasing  power  of  wages  by  the  use  of  the  multiple  standard,  I  have 
selected  arts  or  occupations  which  have  been  in  substantially  continu¬ 
ous  operation  during  the  whole  period  under  consideration,  that  is, 
subject  to  very  few  stops  or  none.  I  am  aware  that  the  adverse  com¬ 
ment  on  this  method  will  be  that  during  this  period,  since  i860,  there 
has  been  greater  variation  in  the  supply  of  and  demand  for  labor  than 
at  previous  dates  or  periods  of  economic  history.  Such  stupendous 
changes  could  not  have  occurred  in  a  single  generation  without  giving 
some  support  to  this  criticism.  Space  will  not  permit  me  to  treat  this 
branch  of  the  subject ;  suffice  it  to  say  that  my  own  observation  has 
led  me  to  the  conclusion  that  in  each  period  of  commercial  panic, 
namely,  1866,  1873,  and  for  a  few  years  of  alleged  depression  subse¬ 
quent  thereto,  as  well  as  in  the  recent  period  of  alleged  depression, 
from  1881  to  1886,  the  number  of  the  unemployed  has  been  very  much 
exaggerated.  In  my  judgment,  compulsory  idleness  has  hardly  existed 
at  all,  except  in  connection  with  the  alternate  periods  of  cessation  and 
of  great  activity  in  the  construction  of  railways,  and  has  mainly  affected 
the  workmen  employed  in  that  branch  of  industry,  reacting  of  course 
in  a  limited  measure  upon  others. 

It  may  also  be  apparent  from  the  data  that  I  have  submitted,  that 
this  period  of  steady  reduction  in  prices  since  the  end  of  the  Civil  War 
has  been  in  fact  a  period  of  the  greatest  progress  in  material  welfare 
ever  witnessed  in  this  or  in  any  other  country.  The  temporary  diffi¬ 
culties,  local  distress,  and  congestion  of  labor,  limited  mainly  to  some 
of  our  great  cities,  have  been  mere  incidents  in  the  adjustment  of 
society  to  new  conditions  of  an  assured  abundance  such  as  were  never 
before  achieved.  It  has  happened  that  there  has  been  temporary  want 
in  the  midst  of  general  plenty  and  welfare  ;  but  this  want  has  been 
limited  to  a  very  few  conspicuous  points,  where  it  has  perhaps  attracted 
more  attention  than  its  porportion  called  for. 

With  this  explanation  I  submit  the  subsequent  diagram  or  object 
lesson  (page  170)  in  illustration  of  the  various  changes  which  have 
occurred  in  'the  relations  of  labor  and  capital  since  i860,  first  giving 
the  elements  of  the  multiple  standard. 

In  1887  prices  fell  a  little  lower  than  in  1886,  and  in  1888  they  have 
begun  to  rise  in  some  small  measure,  while  there  has  been  no  substan¬ 
tial  variation  in  general  wages  since  1885.  A  decline  has  occurred  in 
a  few  arts,  mainly  those  which  are  dependent  on  railway  construction, 
but  there  has  been  a  moderate  advance,  or  tendency  to  advance,  in 
other  directions.  It  is  commonly  assumed,  and  may  be  admitted,  that 
wages  in  agriculture  exert  a  powerful  influence  upon  those  in  other 
departments,  and  that  farm  labor  may  be  taken  as  a  standard.  In  the 
last  official  report  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  No.  51,  May, 


/ 


Progress  and  Poverty. 


167 

1888,  Mr.  J.  R.  Dodge,  the  Statistician  of  the  Department,  says  that 
“  the  result  of  the  May  investigation  of  the  wages  of  farm  labor  is 
almost  identical  with  that  of  three  years  ago  ;  the  changes  are  very 
slight,  though  local  differences  occur,  the  averages  of  several  sections 
or  groups  of  States  being  changed  very  little.” 

MULTIPLE  STANDARD. 

Table  A. — A  Single  Day’s  Ration,  with  its  Average  Cost  in  1880,  1881,  and 

1882. 

Table  B. — 400  Rations,  or  i  Year’s  Supply  for  i  Adult  with  35  Extra 

Rations. 

It  is  assumed  that  the  prices  of  meat  and  fish  (fresh  or  salt)  and  poultry,  will  have  varied 
substantially  with  the  variations  in  salt  and  smoked  meats,  and  as  the  prices  of  the 
latter  are  more  uniformly  quoted,  the  prices  used  in  making  up  the  general  standard 
are  those  given  for  salt  and  smoked  meats.  In  the  same  way  the  price  of  potatoes  has 
been  taken  as  a  standard  for  the  variation  in  the  price  of  all  green  vegetable  food  or 
roots. 

B. — 400  Rations. 

200  lbs.  corned  beef. 

100  lbs.  salt  pork. 

100  lbs.  smoked  ham. 

100  quarts  milk. 

30  lbs.  butter. 

20  lbs.  cheese. 

17  doz.  eggs. 

I  barrel  flour. 

)4  barrel  corn  meal. 

20  bushels  potatoes. 

80  lbs.  sugar. 

4  lbs.  tea. 

8  lbs  coffee. 

$6  worth  assumed  at  all  dates. 

$100 


A. — One  Ration  per  Day. 

]/2  to  i  lb.  meat,  poultry  or  fish, 
varying  according  to  kind  and 
quality,  costing  on  an  average. 

10 

)4  to  y  pint  milk . ) 

1  to  1)4  oz.  butter .  - 

5 

)4  to  y  oz.  cheese . ) 

1  egg  every  other  day . 

K 

y  to  1  lb.  bread . 

2  y 

Vegetables  and  roots . 

2  @  2)4 

Sugar  and  syrup . 

2 

Tea  and  coffee . 

1 

Salt,  spice,  fruit,  ice,  and  sundries 

i)4  @)  2 

25  cts. 

STANDARD  PORTION  OF  CLOTH  FOR  ONE  YEAR  : 

10  yards  medium  brown  cotton. 


10  “ 

standard  gingham. 

10  “ 

36.  in.  bleached  shirting. 

20  “ 

printed  calico. 

IO  “ 

4-oz  woolen  flannel,  or  worsted 
dress  goods. 

5  ‘ 

16-oz.  cassimere. 

5  “ 

Kentucky  jean,  satinet,  or  light 
cassimere. 

STANDARD  OF  BOOTS  AND  SHOES  FOR  ONE  YEAR  : 

2  pairs  men’s  heavy  boots. 

STANDARD  OF  FUEL  FOR  ONE  YEAR  : 

1)4  tons  anthracite  coal  or  its  equiva¬ 
lent  in  bituminous  coal  or  wood. 


In  establishing  the  average  cost  of  a  day’s  portion  of  the  above,  the  prices  given  in 
Vol.  XX.  of  the  U.  S.  Census,  in  10  shops  east  and  10  shops  west  of  Buffalo,  1860- 
1880,  have  been  averaged  for  each  year  designated.  These  prices  have  been  verified 
from  other  sources  of  information.  Prices  of  dry  goods  have  been  verified  fully. 
Prices  for  1885  and  ’86  have  been  derived  from  typical  establishments  and  from  market 
reports.  The  average  prices  of  1885  and  ’86  were  probably  less  than  the  estimate  used. 


i68 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


The  following  table  presents  the  sectional  averages  from  1866  to 
1888.  It  will  be  observed  that  from  1866  to  1879  wages  were  rated  in 
depreciated  paper  money  gradually  approaching  the  specie  standard, 
and  that  while  wages  were  nominally  less  in  rate  after  resumption,  their 
purchasing  power  was  much  greater.  See  subsequent  table  : 


Sections. 

1888. 

1885. 

1882. 

i879- 

IO 

00 

H 

1869. 

1866. 

Eastern  States . 

$26.03 

$25.30 

$26.61 

$20.21 

$28.96 

$32.08 

$33-30 

Middle  States . 

23.11 

23.19 

22.24 

19.69 

26.02 

28.02 

30.07 

Southern  States . 

14.54 

14.27 

15-30 

I3-3I 

16.22 

17.21 

16.00 

Western  States . 

22.22 

22 . 26 

23-63 

20.38 

23.60 

27.01 

28.91 

California . 

38.08 

38.75 

38.25 

41.00 

44-50 

46.38 

35-75 

Average  U.  S . 

18.24 

17.97 

18.94 

16.42 

19.87 

Average  Eastern,  Mid-") 
die,  and  Western  | 

States,  excluding)'  23.79  23.58  24.16  20.09  26.19  29.04  30.76 

Southern  States  and  | 

California . J 

These  are  the  wages  per  month  of  farm  laborers  hired  by  the  year 
without  board,  the  workmen  boarding  themselves.  The  average  of 
1888  of  the  whole  country,  with  board,  is  $12.36.  The  day  wages  in 
harvest  time  in  188,8,  without  board,  averaged  $1.38  ;  with  board, 
$1.02.  The  day  wages  of  ordinary  farm  labor  other  than  harvest 
hands  averaged,  without  board,  $0.92  ;  with  board,  $0.67.  The  aver¬ 
age  of  the  whole  country  is,  however,  somewhat  delusive,  being  greatly 
affected  by  the  low  rates  of  wages  prevailing  in  the  Southern  States, 
especially  among  the  negro  population.  If  we  take  two  States  as  ex¬ 
amples  of  agricultural  communities  devoted  mainly  to  wheat  and  corn, 
for  instance  Minnesota  and  Iowa,  we  find  the  average  wages  per  month 
of  hands  hired  by  the  year  in  those  States  to  have  been,  without  board, 
in  1885,  $25.40  ;  in  1888,  $25.67  ;  with  board,  in  1885,  $16.87  5  in  1S88, 
$17.41. 

In  harvest  time  the  day  wages  were  as  follows  : 

Minnesota,  in  1885,  $2.29. 

“  “  1888,  2.20. 

Iowa,  .  .  “  1885,  2.00. 

“  “  1888,  1.81. 

The  urgency  of  the  demand  for  labor  in  harvesting  wheat  is  great¬ 
est  in  Minnesota,  whereas  in  Iowa  maize  or  Indian  corn  is  the  chief 
crop,  on  which  the  demand  at  harvest  time  is  not  so  urgent.  The  day 
wages  of  ordinary  farm  labor  in  Minnesota  and  Iowa,  with  board,  were 
practically  one  dollar  a  day  both  in  1885  and  1888,  and  from  $1.25  to 
$1.30  without  board. 

I  now  submit  the  rates  of  wages  in  the  manufacturing  and  mechanic 
arts,  compiled  from  the  twentieth  volume  of  the  Census  and  from  data 
gathered  by  myself  for  1885  and  1886. 


Progress  and  Poverty . 


Class  I. — Specially  Skilled  Men  :  Foremen,  Overseers,  Boss  Blacksmiths,  Carpenters,  etc. 
Customarily  Earning  $3.00  to  $5.00  per  Day  at  the  Present  Time. 


Average  per  Year. 

Year.  Average  per  Day.  300  days. 

i860 .  $2.45  $735-00 

1865 .  3.57  1071.00 

1870 . ' .  '  4.34  1302.00 

1875 .  4.I4  I242.OO 

1880 .  4.I4  1242.OO 

i885  j. .  Probably  higher  than  in  1880. 


Class  II. —  Average  Mechanics,  Engineers,  Blacksmiths,  Carpenters,  Machinists,  and 
Painters  Connected  with  Establishments  Reported  in  Vol.  XX.  of  the  Census,  1865 
to  1880,  Inclusive. 


Year.  Average  per  Day.  Average  per  Year. 

i860 .  $1-56  $468.00 

1865 .  2.34  702.00 

1870 .  2.43  747.OO 

1875 .  2.29  687.OO 

1880 .  2.26  678.OO 

1885  I .  2.40  720.00 

1886  S 


Class  III. — All  the  Operatives,  except  Foremen  and  Overseers,  in  ioo  Establishments 
Reporting  the  Wages  of  their  Working  People  under  more  than  1200  Separate 
Titles:  Bricks,  Marble,  Furniture,  Agricultural  Implements,  Tin-ware,  Stoves, 
Boots,  Hats,  Cars,  Wagons,  Flour  and  Saw  Mills,  Iron,  Paper,  and  Textiles,  Em¬ 
ploying  Men,  Women,  and  Children,  from  20  to  2000  in  Each. 


Year.  Average  per  Day.  Average  per  Year. 

i860 .  $1.33  $399-0° 

1865 .  1.88  564.00 

1870 .  1.94  582.00 

1875 . i-77  531.00 

1880 .  1. 71  513.00 

1885  l .  1.80  540.00 

1886  \ 


Class  IV. — Laborers,  Computed  Separately,  Connected  with  above  Establishments. 


Year.  Average  per  Day.  Average  per  Year. 

i860..... .  $1.01  $303.00 

1865 . I.56  468.OO 

1870 . I.58  474.OO 

1875 .  I.38  414.OO 

1880 .  I.34  402.00 

1885  I .  1.40  420.00 

1886  y 


Having  thus  determined  the  average  rates  of  wages  at  different 
periods,  it  next  became  necessary  to  determine  the  retail  prices  of  the 
various  articles  constituting  the  multiple  standard.  The  method 
adopted  is  stated  in  the  foregoing  table.  The  cost  of  retail  price  to 
the  consumers  of  a  single  portion  or  daily  supply  of  the  articles  con¬ 
stituting  this  multiple  standard,  computed  for  equal  quantities  of  the 
same  kinds  of  food,  fuel,  and  materials  for  clothing,  has  been  as 
follows,  the  average  of  each  year  being  given  as  stated  from  twenty 
returns,  the  average  computed  on  twelve  months’  prices,  month  by 
month  : 


1 70 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


i860 . 

1865 . 

1870 . 

1875 . 

1880 . 

1885  and  1886 


$3°i9(j5(T 

cents 

55to97T 

4  4 

A  Q  5  3 

43to(T 

4  4 

38io9(T 

4  4 

o  4 

33io  0 


each  portion. 

4  4  4  4 

a  u 

4  4  4  4 

4  4  4  4 

4  4  4  4 


For  the  latter  years,  1885  and  1886,  having  less  adequate  data  than 
for  the  preceding  years,  I  have  adopted  a  maximum  of  thirty  cents. 
In  point  of  fact  the  average  price  combined  of  the  respective  articles 
was  less  than  this,  and  probably  did  not  exceed  twenty-eight  cents. 
In  order  that  the  true  relation  of  these  figures  may  be  comprehended 
the  accompanying  diagram  is  submitted. 


In  this  diagram  the  classes  of  workmen  are  indicated  by  the  Roman 
numerals  I.,  II.,  III.,  and  IV.  The  number  of  portions  which  each 
year’s  earnings  would  buy  is  given  on  the  vertical  lines  under  the  re¬ 
spective  dates.  The  relative  progress  of  each  class  of  workmen  is 


Progress  and  Poverty . 


i  7i 


indicated  by  the  lines  projected  from  left  to  right,  I.,  IL,  III.,  and  IV. 
The  line  indicated  by  the  numeral  V.  gives  the  purchasing  power  of 
$100  of  lawful  money  at  the  several  dates  in  portions  of  the  multiple 
standard.  The  line  which  passes  diagonally  from  left  to  right,  marked 
“  Decline  in  rate  of  interest,”  indicates  the  loss  in  the  purchasing 
power  of  capital.  The  line  at  the  top,  indicated  by  the  Roman 
numerals  VI.,  indicates  the  purchasing  power  of  the  income  yielded  by 
an  investment  of  $10,000,  at  the  respective  dates.  Let  us  now  glance 
at  the  relative  conditions  of  labor  and  capital  disclosed  by  this  diagram. 

The  gain  in  the  purchasing  power  of  wages,  measured  by  the  mul¬ 
tiple  standard  of  food,  fuel,  and  cloth,  has  been  from  1860,  as  com¬ 
pared  to  18S5  and  1886,  as  follows  : 


Class  1 .  70  percent.  Class  III .  40  per  cent. 

Class  II .  59  per  cent.  Class  IV . 43  per  cent. 

The  gain  in  1885  and  1886,  as  compared  to  the  year  1865,  when 
paper  money  and  war  had  exerted  their  utmost  effect,  was  as  follows  : 


Class  1 . 108  per  cent.  Class  III .  78  per  cent. 

Class  II .  90  per  cent.  Class  IV .  67  per  cent. 

The  line  indicated  by  the  numeral  V.  gives  the  purchasing  power 
of  one  hundred  dollars  of  lawful  money,  in  specie  in  i860,  in  depre¬ 
ciated  paper  currency  up  to  1879,  and  again  in  specie  in  1880,  1885, 
and  1886.  In  i860  one  hundred  dollars  of  coin  would  buy  323  por¬ 
tions  of  food,  fuel,  and  materials  for  clothing.  In  1865  one  hundred 
nominal  dollars  of  depreciated  paper  would  purchase  only  179  por¬ 
tions,  a  loss  of  44  per  cent,  in  the  power  of  the  money,  which  was 
partly  compensated  to  workmen  by  a  moderate  advance  in  the  rate  of 
wages.  In  1885  and  1886,  one  hundred  dollars  of  coin  would  purchase 
333  portions  at  the  estimate  assumed  by  me,  30  cents  per  portion,  but 
in  fact,  nearer  350  portions  of  the  same  kinds  and  quantities  of  the 
necessaries  of  life  at  a  somewhat  less  price,  say  at  28  cents.  The  line 
sloping  diagonally  from  left  to  right  shows  the  reduction  in  the  earning 
power  of  capital  as  demonstrated  by  the  fall  in  the  rate  of  interest  on 
the  best  classes  of  securities. 

From  1848  to  i860  the  writer  kept  a  record  of  transactions  by 
himself  or  by  his  associates  in  manufacturing  corporations.  The 
average  rate  of  discount  paid  in  the  open  market  by  the  corporations 
enjoying  the  highest  credit  during  this  period  was  eight  per  cent., 
subject  to  very  considerable  fluctuations.  From  i860  to  1869,  inclu¬ 
sive,  the  rates  of  discount  varied  greatly  with  the  circumstances  of 
each  case.  The  war  and  the  continued  issue  of  legal-tender  notes 
rendered  any  standard  of  little  moment.  Railway  corporations 
issued  bonds  at  long  dates,  at  rates  of  interest  from  7  to  8  per 


172  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 

cent.,  but  there  was  little  recourse  to  credit  in  ordinary  transac¬ 
tions.  Commercial  paper  wholly  disappeared  and  all  traffic  in  goods 
assumed  the  nature  of  barter,  no  one  holding  money  longer  than  was 
necessary.  In  1870  the  slow  restoration  of  specie  payment  began. 
Up  to  1873,  the  year  of  panic,  the  rate  of  interest  on  the  best  manu¬ 
facturing  notes  was  on  the  average  six  and  one  half  per  cent. 

After  the  panic  of  1873  ended,  up  to  the  1st  of  January,  1879,  five 
per  cent,  was  the  average  rate.  Since  the  restoration  of  the  specie 
standard  at  the  latter  date,  down  to  the  present  time,  the  fluctuations 
in  the  rate  of  discount  on  the  very  best  commercial  notes  have  been 
from  3  to  5  per  cent.  ;  by  the  actual  record  of  a  broker  doing  a  very 
large  business,  they  have  averaged  4  per  cent,  on  6  months’  paper  in 
this  section  of  the  East. 

By  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Lyman  J.  Gage,  of  Chicago,  I  have  ob¬ 
tained  the  rates  of  discount  on  commercial  paper  at  that  point.  They 
are  about  the  game  in  their  proportion,  having  been  reduced  from  an 
average  of  10  per  cent,  or  over,  to  an  average  of  5  per  cent,  or  less, 
between  the  dates  i860  and  1886.  On  Western  farm  mortgages  the 
change  has  been  much  greater.  Twenty-five  years  ago  rates  as  high  as 
25  per  cent,  were  paid  on  mortgages  of  Western  land,  on  what  has 
proved  to  be  excellent  security.  The  rate  now  charged  is  seven  per 
cent,  and  even  less. 

In  order  to  determine  the  actual  earning  power  of  capital  safely 
invested,  it  becomes  necessary  to  combine  the  several  factors  :  first, 
rate  of  interest  ;  secondly,  income  of  a  given  sum  at  that  rate  ;  thirdly, 
purchasing  power  in  portions  of  the  products  included  in  the  multiple 
standard.  Assuming  $10,000  invested,  yielding  the  average  rates  of 
interest  given  above,  we  get  the  following  results  in  the  income  and 
purchasing  power  : 


i860  Income 

$800  spent  at  30t9q5¥ 

cents 

per  portion.  .  .  . 

2584  portions. 

1865 

$800  “ 

“  c  C  6  9 
00  100 

<  < 

<  i 

1436 

<  t 

1870  “ 

$700  “ 

“  ,1 0  5  3 

43too 

<  < 

i  i 

1603 

i  t 

1875 

$600  ‘ 4 

“  aR  6  9 
3°Xoo 

i  t 

(  i 

1551 

<  » 

1880  “ 

$500  “ 

“  aa  24 
33TTJ7 

i  ( 

(  i 

1500 

i  i 

1885-86  “  . 

$400  4  4 

“  30 

<  i 

i  i 

1333 

(  ( 

I  have  chosen  Eastern  rates  rather  than  Western.  In  1865  rates 
fluctuated  greatly,  but  I  assume  no  average  change  from  i860. 

If  capital  could  only  secure  by  its  income  one  half  as  many  por¬ 
tions  of  food,  fuel,  and  clothing  in  1885  and  1886  as  in  i860,  and  if  in 
the  meantime  the  productive  power  of  labor  had  become  one  third 
more  effective,  which  is  a  moderate  estimate,  does  it  not  follow  that 
labor  now  secures  the  service  of  capital  on  better  terms  than  ever  be¬ 
fore  ?  I  submit  this  problem  in  economic  mathematics  to  the  officers 
of  the  Anti-Poverty  Society. 


Progress  and  Poverty . 


173 


It  is  because  these  facts  are  consciously  or  unconsciously  compre¬ 
hended,  that  the  agitation  of  what  is  called  the  labor  question  affects 
but  a  small  fraction  or  fringe  of  the  working  population,  and  that  the 
special  efforts  of  the  leaders  to  change  the  relations  of  workmen  and 
employers  last  so  short  a  time  and  have  such  slight  results.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  more  the  workmen  organize  and  discuss  these  problems, 
the  more  fully  will  the  true  relations  of  labor  and  capital  become  defined. 

Now,  while  I  cannot  claim  positive  accuracy  for  these  formulae  by 
which  I  have  attempted  to  present  the  problem  of  distribution,  I  can 
feel  well  assured  that  the  margins  for  error  would  balance  each  other, 
and  that  even  if  the  figures  are  not  absolutely  true,  the  curves  by 
which  the  relative  condition  of  laborers  and  capitalists  are  indicated  are 
so  near  to  absolute  truth  as  to  make  any  error  in  detail  of  no  apprecia¬ 
ble  effect  upon  the  general  result.  May  it  not  therefore  be  held  that, 
in  a  free  and  substantially  homogeneous  country  like  the  United  States, 
society  adapts  itself  to  whatever  conditions  may  be  brought  into  effect 
by  war,  by  paper  money,  or  by  fiscal  legislation  ? 

In  order  that  society  in  a  broad  sense  may  exist,  the  division  of 
labor  and  the  exchange  of  product  for  product  or  of  service  for  ser¬ 
vice  is  an  absolute  necessity.  In  the  distribution  of  products,  in 
which  the  exchange  of  service  mainly  consists,  there  may  be  more  or 
less  friction.  When  the  standard  of  value  or  money  of  the  country  is 
tampered  with,  there  will  be  a  greater  margin  of  profit  secured  by 
capital  as  against  labor,  in  order  that  capital  may  insure  itself  against 
loss  from  the  depreciation  of  the  money  in  which  it  is  rated.  Yet 
good  or  bad  as  the  money  may  be,  or  costly,  unscientific,  and  ill-ad¬ 
judged  as  the  system  of  taxation  may  be,  the  discoveries  of  science 
and  the  labor-saving  inventions  applied  to  productive  industry  bring 
forth  or  produce,  if  they  do  not  create,  a  huge  abundance  where 
scarcity  had  been  the  rule.  Under  the  higher  law  which  governs 
society,  the  direction  of  which  can  be  but  little  changed  by  legislative 
interference,  the  benefit  of  this  abundance  is  ultimately  distributed,  to 
the  end  that  those  who  do  the  work  of  production  and  who  are  classed 
as  working  men  and  working  women,  secure  to  their  own  use  an  in¬ 
creasing  share  of  a  constantly  increasing  product.  This  product  is 
divided  among  themselves  in  the  exact  proportion  to  which  their  rela¬ 
tive  capacity  and  ability  entitle  them.  On  the  other  hand,  the  owners 
of  capital,  or  those  who  direct  its  force,  secure  to  their  use  or  enjoy¬ 
ment  a  diminishing  share  of  this  same  constantly  increasing  product. 
Yet  such  has  been  the  enormous  gain  of  the  last  twenty-five  years  by 
the  application  of  numerous  inventions,  that  this  smaller  share  of  a 
vastly  increasing  product  represents  at  this  time  a  larger  aggregate  of 
wealth  than  was  ever  attained  by  any  people  of  any  country  at  any 
previous  period  of  the  history  of  the  world. 


i74 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


The  prime  factor  in  the  progress  of  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
both  in  personal  wealth  and  in  general  welfare,  has  been  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  the  railway  system.  The  service  of  the  railways  has  continued 
to  increase  with  great  rapidity  during  the  last  two  years,  while  the  price 
of  that  service  continues  to  be  reduced.  The  twenty-six  great  systems 
of  railway  which  centre  in  Chicago  from  east  and  west  received  in  the 
last  four  years  a  little  less  than  $640,000,000  for  moving  food,  fuel,  ma¬ 
terials  for  shelter,  and  clothing,  at  the  rate  of  less  than  a  cent  (0.854c.) 
a  ton  a  mile.  The  charge  for  the  service  of  these  same  railways  from 
1866  to  1873  averaged  2.315  ;  the  reduction  in  the  rate  of  the  last  four 
years  has  been  1.461  cents  a  ton  a  mile.  Had  the  traffic  for  these  four 
years  been  charged  this  difference,  or  been  charged  what  was  consid¬ 
ered  a  reasonable  rate  in  the  former  period,  the  cost  would  have  been 
$1,091,000,000  more  than  it  actually  was.  The  service  of  these  trunk 
lines  constitutes  thirty-five  per  cent,  of  the  whole  railway  service  of  the 
country  ;  the  reduction  in  the  railway  charge  on  all  lines  has  been  as 
great  or  greater  than  on  these  (in  all  more  than  $3,200,000,000)  for  the 
last  four  years.  While  the  mass  of  the  people  have  thus  gained  in  the 
aggregate  more  than  $800,000,000  a  year  in  the  cost  of  distribution  in 
recent  years  as  compared  to  the  period  previously  named,  the  construc¬ 
tion  and  operation  of  the  railways  have  been  the  source  of  many  of  the 
phenomenal  fortunes  of  recent  years.  Of  some  of  these  fortunes  it  may 
be  truly  said  that  every  dollar  which  has  been  gained  by  their  owners 
is  but  a  token  of  the  service  which  they  have  rendered  to  their  fellow- 
men  ;  of  others  it  may  be  as  truly  said  that  each  dollar  of  their  gains 
is  but  a  token  of  theft,  fraud,  and  corruption.  It  may  be  that  some 
of  the  most  conspicuous  representative  men  in  the  railway  system,  hav¬ 
ing  corrupted  the  judge  of  a  high  court,  are  now  in  the  position  of  out- 
Taws,  incapable  of  being  trusted,  and  subject  only  to  the  execration  of 
their  fellow-men  ;  yet  good  or  bad  as  may  have  been  the  origin  of  these 
great  fortunes,  the  railways  themselves,  under  the  higher  law  which 
controls  all  the  exchanges  of  men,  and  in  spite  of  injudicious  and 
restrictive  legislation,  continue  to  do  their  work  with  ever-increasing 
benefit  to  those  who  consume  the  products  which  are  moved  upon 
them. 

I  have  thus  endeavored  to  show  how  the  great  economic  forces 
which  have  so  recently  come  into  action  are  steadily  working  out  a 
greater  equality  in  the  distribution  of  the  abundant  product  which  they 
haye  brought  into  existence  ;  yet  great  as  this  progress  is,  it  doth  not 
yet  appear  what  it  shall  be  even  in  the  near  future.  A  wholesome  dis¬ 
content  now  pervades  all  classes  of  the  community,  from  which  true 
progress  will  be  evolved  in  spite  of  the  obstructions  of  the  anarchist 
and  the  socialist  and  the  empirical  devices  of  economic  quacks  and 
agitators. 


Progress  and  Poverty. 


1  75 


Steam  and  electricity  have  profoundly  changed  all  the  relations  of 
men.  The  old  order  of  personal  intercourse  between  master  and 
workman  is  gone.  The  small  self-contained  community  in  which  there 
were  none  very  rich  and  none  very  poor  has  almost  disappeared.  The 
new  forms  of  society  are  not  yet  shaped  or  moulded.  The  one  thing 
most  needed  now  is  that  the  rich  men  shall  know  how  the  workmen  live, 
and  the  workmen  shall  know  how  the  rich  men  work. 


V 


IV. 

THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  NATION.1 

IN  the  three  previous  articles  in  the  Forum  I  have  endeavored  to 
present  facts  which  prove  : 

First.  How  small  a  proportion  of  each  year’s  annual  product 
is  or  can  be  added  to  the  capital  of  the  country  ;  not  exceeding  ten  per 
cent,  in  a  normal  year. 

Secondly.  How  rapidly  this  annual  product  has  been  increased  in 
recent  years  both  in  quantity  and  in  gross  value,  accompanied  by  a 
wider  and  cheaper  distribution,  resulting  in  a  constant  advance  in  the 
standard  of  common  welfare  and  of  common  comfort. 

Thirdly.  I  have  given  the  data  tending  to  prove  that  although  the 
additions  to  capital  or  wealth  constitute  a  diminishing  share  of  an 
increasing  product,  yet  such  has  been  the  rapidity  in  the  increase  of 
this  gross  product  as  to  have  brought  the  accumulated  wealth  of  this 
country  at  the  present  time  to  an  amount  greater  in  proportion  to  popu¬ 
lation  than  it  ever  was  before,  small  in  proportion  to  the  total  product 
as  the  annual  increment  of  added  capital  may  be. 

Fourthly.  From  these  facts  I  have  deduced  proofs  of  the  proposi¬ 
tion,  that  as  capital  becomes  more  effective  it  secures  to  itself  either  in 
the  form  of  rent,  interest,  or  profit,  a  lessening  proportion  of  the 
increased  annual  product  ;  or,  to  put  the  case  in  another  form,  as 
capital  becomes  more  abundant,  as  well  as  more  effective,  it  is  placed 
at,  or  worked  in,  the  service  of  labor  for  a  lower  rate  of  compensation, 
or  for  a  diminishing  share  of  the  joint  product  of  labor  and  capital. 

Fifthly.  As  labor  becomes  more  skilful  and  therefore  more  effec¬ 
tive,  and  is  at  the  same  time  more  intelligently  directed  in  its  application 
to  production,  workmen  secure  to  themselves  an  increasing  share  of  a 
larger  and  larger  product  ;  or,  in  other  words,  workmen  attain  larger 
earnings  by  their  ability  to  make  goods  or  to  perform  services  of  any 
kind  at  a  constantly  diminishing  cost.  This  gain  in  efficiency  and 
therefore  in  earning  power,  is  attained  by  workmen  in  just  proportion 
to  the  development  of  the  individual  capacity  of  each  man  or  woman. 
The  condition  on  which  individual  capacity  leads  to  personal  welfare 

1  Reprinted  from  the  Forum. 

176 


The  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


1 77 


is,  of  necessity,  that  all  men  and  adult  women  shall  retain  their  personal 
control  over  their  own  time  and  their  own  work.  If  they  are  restricted 
in  making  their  personal  agreements  or  bargains  either  by  State  laws 
limiting  the  freedom  of  contract  or  by  the  by-laws  of  associations  in 
disposing  of  their  time,  or  if  they  are  restricted  in  the  personal  control 
of  their  own  methods  of  work,  the  earnings  of  the  most  skilful  may  be 
reduced  to  the  average  of  the  least  capable.  __ 

It  also  begins  to  be  apparent  thatjunce  the  wage  fund  is  that  part 
of  the  annual  product,  or  its  value  in  money,  over  and  above  the  lessen¬ 
ing  proportion  which  may  and  must  be  devoted  to  the  remuneration  of 
capital  or  to  taxation,  the  power  of  the  workman  may  be  said  to  grow 
by  what  it  feeds  upon.  In  proportion  as  the  workman  raises  his  stand¬ 
ard  of  comfort  and  welfareT  he  develops  in  the  very  mental  conception  of 
and  in  the  desire  for  that  higher  standard,  an  increasing  power  to  attain 
it ;  thus  his  increasing  share  of  an  increasing  product  becomes  the  base 
for  the  attainment  of  a  yet  greater  increase.  ^ 

It  has  been  well  said  that  the  true  measure  of  civilization  consists 

%  - - - * - 

not  so  much  in  the  standard  of  living  which  is  actually  attained  by  com¬ 
mon  laborers,  as  in  the  standard  which  is  intelligently  set  up  by  them  as 
the  mark  of  their  attainment.  The  truer  the  standard  aimed  at,  the 
greater  will  be  the  power  developed  to  secure  it.  Our  mother  earth 
stands  ready  to  yield  an  unmeasured  abundance  of  the  means  for  mate¬ 
rial  welfare,  and  will  respond  to  productive  labor  in  exact  proportion  to 
the  intelligence  vyith  which  the  work  is  directed  ;  therefore  with  the 
development  of  the  mental  as  well  as  the  manual  or  mechanical  capacity, 
higher  earnings  becomes  the  correlative  of  a  reduced  cost  of  produc¬ 
tion.  For  instance  :  there  is  almost  an  exact  correspondence  between 
the  supply  of  food  and  the  power  of  doing  the  work  by  which  the  food 
is  supplied.  The  Western  prairies  yield  more  meat  and  bread  than  the 
people  of  this  country  can  possibly  consume.  The  power  of  the  rail¬ 
ways  to  distribute  this  food  is  in  excess  of  the  quantity  waiting  to  be 
distributed.  Let  these  two  forces  or  instrumentalities  of  production 
and  distribution  be  freely  developed  according  to  the  opportunity,  and 
it  will  follow  of  necessity  that  each  person  will  obtain  the  largest  sup¬ 
ply  of  food  at  the  least  cost.  But  if  there  should  arise  a  prejudice 
against  the  railway  managers  such  as  to  lead  to  obstructive  interference 
at  the  demand  of  the  majority  of  yoters,  then  it  must  follow  that  the 
cost  of  distribution  will  be  increased,  the  stimulus  to  production  will  be 
diminished,  and  the  supply  of  food  will  be  proportionately  cut  off  until 
intelligent  methods  shall  take  the  place  of  ignorant  prejudice. 

Again  :  a  large  part  of  the  labor  of  Europe  is  rightly  named  “  pau¬ 
per  labor.”  It  is  under-fed  ;  it  is  ineffectual  and  costly  because  it  is 
under-fed;  the  one  condition  is  a  complement  of  the  other.  Why  is  it 
under-fed  ?  It  is  not  because  there  is  not  land  enough  in  Europe  to 


178  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 

sustain  every  inhabitant  with  a  full  supply  of  food.  The  reason  is  quite 
different.  The  masses  of  Europe  are  too  ignorant  to  throw  off  the  bur¬ 
den  of  dynasties  and  standing  armies  and  navies  ;  they  permit  the  sup¬ 
ply  of  food  to  be  obstructed,  and  also  permit  so  large  a  part  of  that 
which  is  produced  to  be  devoted  to  the  destructive  purposes  either  of 
preparation  for  war  or  of  active  war,  that  what  is  left  will  not  suffice  for 
either  adequate  nutrition  or  for  the  comfort  or  the  welfare  of  the  work¬ 
man  ;  neither  will  it  suffice  to  enable  him  to  do  the  most  effective  work; 
therefore  he  tends  to  become  a  pauper.  It  is  not,  however,  the  purpose 
of  the  writer  to  deal  with  these  broader  aspects  of  this  question.  It  is 
his  present  purpose  to  show  that  if  the  lives  of  either  rich  or  poor  in 
this  country  are  still  ignoble,  it  is  not  for  want  of  the  means  for  a  better 
life.  We  shall  hear  less  of  classes  among  men,  and  we  shall  not  be 
obliged  to  sort  them  into  classes,  when  the  true  purpose  of  living  is  bet¬ 
ter  comprehended  than  it  is  now  by  rich  and  poor  alike. 

It  is  necessary  to  true  welfare  that  the  mental  capacity  and  power  of 
direction  of  the  capitalist  or  his  agent  shall  be  recognized  as  a  prime 
factor  in  production,  especially  by  those  who  attribute  abundance  to 
the  mere  application  of  mechanical  or  manual  labor  to  the  work.  There 
are  admitted  evils  in  the  present  age  of  machinery  which  are  brought 
about  by  the  extreme  subdivision  of  labor,  even  though  these  processes 
are  absolutely  necessary  to  the  production  of  that  abundance  without 
which  the  present  general  standard  of  living  could  not  be  set  up  even 
as  the  mark  of  future  attainment.  Yet  out  of  this  abundance  even  the 
dream  of  the  eight-hour  agitator  may  ultimately  become  a  reality,  but 
this  attainment  will  be  near  at  hand  only  when  the  workmen  themselves 
comprehend  that  leisure  is  secured  through  liberty  and  not  by  way  of 
restriction.  This  is  only  the  first  century  of  commerce  in  any  true 
sense,  and  the  bearing  of  steam  and  electricity  upon  civilization  is  as 
yet  but  dimly  apparent  ;  their  effect  in  shortening  the  necessary  hours 
of  work  and  in  alleviating  the  adverse  conditions  under  which  so  many 
common  laborers  now  merely  exist,  has  hardly  begun. 

It  is  admitted  that,  co-incidently  with  the  great  progress  from  pov¬ 
erty  which  has  been  brought  about  by  the  very  rapid  application  of  in¬ 
vention  to  production  and  distribution,  the  conditions  under  which  the 
work  of  the  country  is  carried  on  have  been  profoundly  changed  ;  there 
has  therefore  been  at  times  great  difficulty  on  the  part  of  unskilled 
laborers  in  finding  steady  occupation,  while  there  has  also  been  more 
or  less  difficulty  in  adjusting  themselves  to  new  conditions  on  the  part 
of  persons  whose  occupations,  requiring  special  skill  and  aptitude,  have 
been  done  away  with  wholly  or  in  part  by  the  use  of  machinery.  These 
difficulties  have,  however,  been  exceptional  ;  the  general  influence  of 
all  the  changes  referred  to  has  been  in  the  direction  of  lower  prices, 
small  profits  proportionately  to  each  transaction,  accompanied  by 


The  Progress  of  the  Nation.  i  79 

higher  wages  to  those  who  do  the  primary  work  of  production  and 
distribution. 

As  the  margin  of  profit  has  diminished,  a  higher  order  of  intel¬ 
ligence,  a  much  closer  method  of  business,  and  a  more  strict  applica¬ 
tion  of  science  have  been  called  for  in  all  large  undertakings.  There¬ 
fore,  while  the  earnings  of  workmen  have  increased,  the  earnings  of 
those  who  have  been  charged  with  the  direction  and  application  of 
capital  have  also  increased,  possibly  even  in  inverse  proportion  to  the 
lessening  ratio  of  profit  on  which  the  remuneration  of  capital  depends, 
while  mere  possession  of  capital  has  become  less  and  less  remunerative 
to  the  owner.  Thus  the  work  of  the  director  or  administrator  of  capi¬ 
tal,  whether  its  owner  or  agent,  has  assumed  a  position  of  supreme 
importance. 

It  may  also  be  observed,  that  while  great  fortunes,  even  those 
which  have  been  gained  by  theft  and  fraud  or  by  gambling  in  the 
stock  market  with  loaded  dice  and  marked  cards,  have  become  more 
conspicuous,  they  yet  bear  in  the  aggregate  a  lessening  proportion  to 
the  total  savings  of  the  community.  It  may  not  be  a  subject  capable 
of  absolute  proof,  but  it  may  be  safely  held  that  the  wealth  of  the 
country  is  more  widely  distributed  than  ever  before.  In  respect  to 
distribution  by  fraud  and  gambling  it  is  also  to  be  remarked,  that  no 
one  need  trust  or  deal  with  an  outlaw  who  has  corrupted  the  courts 
of  the  country,  unless  he  chooses  to  do  so,  and  that  no  lambs  will  be 
shorn  who  do  not  offer  their  own  fleeces  to  the  wolves. 

Again  it  may  be  remarked,  that  as  the  margin  of  profit  diminishes, 
the  so-called  system  of  co-operation  or  profit-sharing  becomes  more 
impracticable,  and  also  less  desirable  as  a  mode  of  distribution.  Co¬ 
operative  distribution  has  had  some  success  in  Great  Britain,  where  a 
credit  system  has  long  ruled  even  in  the  retail  traffic  of  towns  and  cities, 
but  it  has  had  little  success  in  this  country,  where  the  principle  of 
large  sales  at  small  profits,  for  cash  or  its  equivalent,  has  long  been  in 
operation  in  the  great  retail  shops. 

A  glance  over  the  figures  of  production  and  distribution  will  per¬ 
haps  remove  doubts  as  to  these  propositions,  and  may  help  in  their 
comprehension.  The  great  gain  and  the  increase  in  consumption  in 
recent  years  have  been  chiefly  in  the  consumption  of  articles  which 
are  of  common  use  by  the  great  mass  of  the  people,  rather  than  in 
luxuries  or  articles  of  voluntary  use.  (Here  we  set  aside  for  separate 
treatment  the  consumption  of  spirits,  wines,  and  fermented  liquors.) 
It  is  because  so  large  a  part  of  the  industry  of  this  country  is  applied  to 
the  production  and  distribution  of  the  necessities  and  comforts  of  life 
that  they  become  the  subjects  of  paramount  importance  in  the  study 
of  questions  that  are  now  at  issue  ;  this  fact  also  renders  the  alleged 
tendency  to  luxurious  consumption  and  waste  relatively  unimportant. 


180  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 

If  we  take  as  a  starting-point  the  year  1870,  when  the  armies  on 
both  sides  of  the  civil  conflict  had  become  finally  absorbed  in  the  pur¬ 
suits  of  peace,  when  the  difficulties  of  the  reconstruction  period  were 
mainly  ended,  and  when  the  revolution  not  only  of  institutions  but  of 
ideas  in  the  Southern  States  was  so  nearly  completed  that  the  whole 
country,  as  a  unit,  had  entered  upon  an  era  of  great  material  progress, 
we  find  that  while  the  population  increased  from  1870  to  1887  only  55 
per  cent.,  the  product  of  hay,  which  is  synonymous  with  meat  and  the 
products  of  the  dairy,  increased  from  70  to  80  per  cent.;  the  product 
of  grain,  85  per  cent.;  the  product  of  cotton,  112  per  cent.;  the  con¬ 
sumption  of  wool,  domestic  and  foreign,  nearly  100  per  cent.;  the 
product  of  pig-iron,  285  per  cent ;  the  construction  of  railways,  223 
per  cent.;  and  so  on  in  varying  proportions,  all  in  excess  of  popula¬ 
tion,  with  regard  to  all  the  necessities  and  comforts  of  life. 

If  the  consumption  of  liquors  be  considered  separately,  the  facts 
show  that  the  consumption  of  champagne,  expensive  wine,  brandy, 
and  the  like,  is  very  small  compared  to  that  of  beer  and  whiskey,  or 
the  drink  of  the  every-day  working  people.  The  most  complete  and 
accurate  estimate  of  the  consumption  of  liquors  has  been  made  by  Mr. 
F.  N.  Barrett,  editor  of  the  American  Grocer ,  whose  conclusion  is  that 

on  the  average,  from  1883  to  1887,  the  consumption  of  spirits,  beer, 

- 

and  wine  cost  the  consumers  a  little  less  than  $768,000,000  a  year. 
Of  this  consumption,  domestic  spirits,  domestic  beer,  and  domestic 
wine  amounted  to  $734,000,000,  leaving  only  the  remainder,  $34,000,- 
000,  to  cover  foreign  wines,  spirits,  and  beer  ;  less  than  five  per  cent. 

It  thus  appears  that  the  increasing  supply  and  consumption  of 
commodities  of  domestic  and  foreign  origin  have  consisted  mainly  of 
those  articles  which  enter  into  general  consumption,  and  which  are 
either  the  common  necessities  or  the  comforts_of  life  ;  or,  if  spirits 
and  beer  may  be  called  luxuries,  the  luxuries  of  the  common  people. 

It  follows  of  necessity  that  since  there  has*been  no  accumulation 
of  stock,  and  since  all  that  has  been  produced  or  imported  in  exchange 
for  the  export  of  the  domestic  products  has  been  consumed,  the  gen¬ 
eral  consumption  of  the  mass  of  the  people  must  have  been  greater, 
more  adequate,  and  more  satisfactory  than  ever  before.  Yet  in  this 
<  period  from  1865  to  the  present  time,  we  have  had  several  commercial 
crises,  panics,  and  periods  of  alleged  depression  in  trade  and  industry, 
recurring  oftener  than  in  former  times,  accompanied  by  want  of  em¬ 
ployment  for  a  considerable  number  of  workmen,  especially  common 
laborers,  who  feel  the  depression  first  and  who  are  least  capable  of 
waiting  for  work  on  the  proceeds  of  which  they  may  subsist. 

It  may  also  be  observed  that  while  the  general  tendency  of  prices 
throughout  this  period  has  been  downward,  there  have  been  sharp 
and  not  infrequent  upward  fluctuations,  or,  according  to  the  new 


The  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


1 8 1 


term,  there  has  been  a  “boom”  in  trade  and  commerce.  These  new 
and  varying  conditions  lead  once  more  to  the  study  of  prices  or  to  the 
determination  of  the  very  obscure  question,  What  makes  the  price  of 
goods  ?  They  also  bring  up  the  question,  What  is  the  actual  connec¬ 
tion  between  price  and  money,  the  latter  considered  quantitatively  and 
qualitatively  ?  Whether  or  not  these  problems  will  ever  be  deter¬ 
mined  in  such  a  scientific  way  as  to  make  the  solution  a  part  of  the 
common  knowledge  or  of  the  common-sense  of  the  community,  is  a 
matter  that  cannot  yet  be  decided.  The  utmost  that  can  now  be  done 
is  to  treat,  perhaps  somewhat  empirically,  some  of  the  forces  that  affect 
prices  directly  or  indirectly  by  their  influence  upon  the  exchange  of 
products,  on  which  the  salable  value  depends. 

Among  the  major  forces  promoting  abundance  and  tending  to 
increase  the  value  of  the  annual  product  and  thereby  of  the  wage  and 
profit  fund,  may  be  named  improvements  in  the  methods  of  banking, 
the  telegraph,  the  extension  of  the  railway  and  steamship  service,  with 
a  reduction  in  the  charge,  and  the  opening  of  the  Suez  Canal. 

Among  the  lesser  forces  which  have  tended  to  obstruct  the  ex¬ 
change  of  products  and  thereby  to  reduce  the  general  wage  and  profit 
fund  and  to  affect  prices,  the  war  of  tariffs  may  be  named,  by  which 
the  peaceful  benefits  of  commerce  are  interrupted.  In  Europe  these 
barriers  of  taxation,  dividing  the  several  states  and  nations  of  the 
Continent,  maintain  animosities  of  race,  creed,  and  nationality.  The 
customs  revenue,  being  an  indirect  form  of  taxation,  is  kept  up  to 
the  deception  of  the  people  who  are  oppres-sed  by  it.  It  is  said  to  be 
necessary  to  the  support  of  the  several  states  by  which  these  duties  are 
imposed  ;  in  fact,  upon  the  Continent  an  analysis  of  the  revenue  and  ex¬ 
penditure  of  only  a  few  states  proves  that  a  sum  exceeding  $350,000,000 
a  year  is  collected  from  customs  at  these  barriers,  and  a  sum  exceed- 
$500,000,000  a  year  is  annually  wasted  in  the  support  of  standing 
armies  and  navies,  which  would  not  be  required  or  tolerated  if  these 
barriers  were  leveled  or  removed.  This  evil  is  very  much  diminished 
and  is  of  little  effect  in  this  country,  except  so  far  as  the  tariffs  of 
foreign  countries  obstruct  the  import  of  our  grain  and  other  articles  of 
food,  for  the  reason  that  the  continental  system  of  absolute  free  trade 
throughout  our  whole  country,  covering  a  larger  area  and  benefiting  a 
greater  number  of  people  than  ever  before  enjoyed  absolute  freedom 
from  trade  restrictions,  has  assured  our  progress  in  spite  of  all  obstruc¬ 
tions  to  our  foreign  commerce,  which  is  relatively  unimportant. 

The  main  purpose  of  the  present  treatise  is  to  consider  only  one  of 
the  forces  which  have  in  recent  years  exerted  a  great  influence  upon 
prices,  and  through  prices  upon  the  rates  of  wages,  to  wit,  the  currency 
or  circulating  medium  of  the  country.  (I  hesitate  to  use  the  word 
“money  ”  in  connection  with  mock  or  substitute  money,  viz .,  the  legal- 


182 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


tender  notes  of  the  government,  which,  under  a  fiction  of  law,  have 
become  fiat  money,  and  have  been  forced  into  circulation  in  place  of 
true  money,  which  carries  its  own  value  in  its  own  substance.) 

The  advocates  of  fiat  money,  or  unlimited  paper  money,  attribute 
great  importance  to  the  volume  or  quantity  of  money  or  instruments  of 
exchange  in  circulation.  On  the  other  hand,  prior  to  the  resumption 
of  specie  payment,  the  advocates  of  the  specie  standard,  whether  the 
single  or  so-called  double  standard,  considered  the  quantity  of  circu¬ 
lating  medium  a  most  important  factor  ;  they  believed  that  the 
contraction  of  the  circulating  medium  or  of  legal-tender  paper  money 
would  be  required  in  much  greater  measure  than  actually  occurred,  as 
a  necessary  precedent  to  the  resumption  of  specie  payment. 

It  must  be  admitted  by  every  one  who  gives  any  weight  to  facts,  that 
the  issue  of  legal-tender  notes  during  the  war  was  accompanied  by  great 
depreciation  and  by  much  greater  advance  in  prices  than  in  the  rates 
of  wages  ;  consequently  the  great  mass  of  working  people  suffered  great 
harm,  which  was  in  part  compensated  to  them  by  the  excess  of  demand 
for  their  products  and  services  for  war  purposes.  This  was  proved  in 
the  last  article. 

But  who  can  measure  the  relative  importance  of  the  quantity  or 
volume  of  the  notes  issued,  as  compared  to  their  discredit  or  the  doubt 
of  their  ultimate  payment  during  the  dark  period  of  the  war  ;  or  who 
can  measure  the  effect  on  prices  of  the  demand  of  the  war  itself  upon 
the  labor  of  the  country,  either  in  the  military  service  or  in  supplying 
the  armies  ?  The  actual  work  of  war  is  and  must  be  done  during  the 
war  period  ;  payment  for  such  work  by  way  of  taxation  may  be  in  part 
deferred  until  either  the  bonds  due  at  long  date  or  the  demand  notes 
issued  under  a  legal-tender  act  become  payable. 

It  is  somewhat  difficult  to  conceive  the  measure  of  the  actual  work 
of  the  war..  From  April,  1861,  to  June,  1868,  four  years  of  war  and  a 
little  over  three  years  of  reconstruction  under  military  rule,  the  revenue 
of  the  United  States  was  : 

From  taxation,  sales  of  public  lands,  and  from  miscel¬ 


laneous  sources .  $2,213,349,486 

From  loans  which  were  unpaid  June  30,  1868 .  2,485,000,000 


$4,698,349,486 


The  expenditures  of  seven  years  of  peace  at  a  consid¬ 
erably  higher  rate  than  in  previous  years  might 

have  been .  $698,349,486 


Leaving  the  money  cost  of  war  to  the  nation .  $4,000,000,000 

But  to  this  must  be  added  the  war  expenditure  of 
States,  towns,  and  cities.  I  am  not  aware  that 
this  has  been  separately  compiled  ;  it  must  have 

been  at  least .  $1,000,000,000 


Making  the  cost  of  war  to  the  nation  as  a  whole  (in 

money  or  debt) . . .  $5,000,000,000 


The  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


183 


But  again,  to  this  sum  must  be  added  the  waste  of  property,  of 
time,  and  what  little  capital  there  was  in  the  Southern  States,  which 
cannot  be  estimated  at  less  than  three  fifths  the  expenditure  of  the 
North,  or  $3,000,000,000.  The  waste  in  the  South  has  perhaps  been 
more  rapidly  made  up  than  the  cost  to  the  North,  by  the  abolition  of 
slavery  and  by  the  emancipation  of  whites  as  well  as  of  blacks  from  its 
degrading  effects  ;  witness  the  subsequent  enormous  growth  of  all  the 
varied  arts  and  industries  in  the  South,  to  which  liberty  has  given  place 
and  opportunity. 

It  may  be  assumed  that  at  a  minimum  the  cost  of  suppressing  the 
Rebellion,  which  was  promoted  by  the  little  oligarchy  who  made  use  of 
the  slave  power  to  mislead  and  deceive  the  masses  of  the  people  of  the 
South,  by  making  them  believe  that  slavery  and  State  rights  were  con¬ 
sistent  with  and  were  bound  up  in  each  other,  was  $8,000,000,000.  The 
cost  of  establishing  and  maintaining  national  liberty  and  State  rights  in 
a  true  sense  throughout  the  land,  was  therefore  $1,135,000,000  a  year 
for  seven  years.  This  price  in  terms  of  money  represents  so  much 
actual  work  done,  mainly  by  the  privates  of  both  armies  and  by  those 
who  supported  them. 

It  has  been  held  that  the  maximum  product  of  each  person  occupied 
for  gain  in  1880  could  not  have  exceeded  $600  worth.  Labor  and  capi¬ 
tal  were  at  least  one  third  more  effective  during  and  since  the  year  1880 
than  during  the  period  of  war  and  of  reconstruction.  If  then  we  value 
one  man’s  labor  from  1861  to  1868  inclusive  at  $500  a  year,  the  work 
of  war  required  the  unremitting  labor  of  2,270,000  men  for  seven  years, 
either  in  the  two  armies  or  in  sustaining  them.  At  $400  each,  an 
estimate  probably  nearer  to  the  mark  at  that  time,  the  measure  would 
be  the  constant  work  of  2,837,500  men  for  seven  years.  The  average 
population  of  that  period  was  35,000,000,  of  whom  not  over  one  in  five 
could  be  considered  an  able-bodied  man  of  arms-bearing  age. 

The  cost  of  liberty  therefore  consisted  in  actual  arduous  work 
at  the  risk  of  life  for  seven  years,  of  one  man  of  arms-bearing  age 
in  every  three.  More  than  one  third  of  the  price  of  this  work  of  war 
was  deferred  by  borrowing  ;  yet  such  was  the  enormous  increase  in 
production  and  the  facility  for  distribution  brought  about  by  the  unifi¬ 
cation  and  completion  of  the  railway  system  of  the  North,  which  took 
place  at  about  the  beginning  of  the  war,  and  such  was  the  effect  of  the 
rapid  application  of  inventions  and  improvements,  especially  in  agricul¬ 
ture,  during  this  period,  that  not  one  single  Northern  crop  diminished, 
and  not  one  single  art  or  important  branch  of  industry,  except  cotton¬ 
spinning,  failed  to  increase.  Therefore,  as  soon  as  the  disbanded 
armies  were  absorbed  in  the  pursuits  of  peace,  production  went 
forward  with  leaps  and  bounds,  while  foreign  markets  took  our  excess 
in  payment  for  our  foreign  loans  ;  our  bonds  were  rapidly  returned  to 


184 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


us  by  purchase.  In  1876  and  1877  the  tide  of  foreign  coin  set  toward 
this  country,  and  the  resumption  of  specie  payment  became  possible  on 
the  1  st  of  January,  1879. 

In  the  latter  part  of  this  same  period  the  wonderful  development  in 
Southern  industry  also  occurred,  than  which  there  is  no  more  extra¬ 
ordinary  chapter  in  all  economic  history.  That  section  of  our  country 
which  had  been  devastated  by  the  war,  its  capital  destroyed,  its  former 
system  of  labor  completely  overturned,  its  people  left  to  recover  with¬ 
out  inherited  aptitude,  mechanical  appliances,  or  any  other  of  the  con¬ 
ditions  which  have  been  assumed  to  be  necessary  for  success  in 
diversified  industry,  is  now  dotted  all  over  with  factories  of  various 
kinds,  and  crossed  and  re-crossed  by  a  rapidly  extending  railway  sys¬ 
tem,  while  its  mines  and  iron-works  are  threatening  those  of  the  older 
States  ;  yet  more  important,  all  the  lesser  arts  of  civilized  life  which  go 
to  make  towns  and  cities  are  springing  into  existence.  All  this  has 
been  done  in  spite  of  the  free  and  urgent  competition  of  the  Northern 
States,  with  all  their  capital  unimpaired,  their  inherited  aptitude,  and 
their  fully-developed  mechanical  appliances.  Thus  while  the  South 
(which  previous  to  the  war  had  depended  mainly  upon  the  North  not 
only  for  manufactured  goods,  but  for  bread  and  meat,  wasting  its  mis¬ 
directed  slave  labor  by  its  application  almost  wholly  to  cotton,  rice,  and 
sugar)  has  now  become  almost  self-sustaining,  its  crop  of  cotton  has 
become  more  and  more  a  money  crop,  representing  its  surplus  of  agri¬ 
culture  or  the  means  for  a  better  subsistence  than  in  the  bad  old  times 
of  the  past.  The  North,  thus  deprived  of  a  part  of  the  great  Southern 
market  which  it  formerly  enjoyed,  while  its  own  crops  were  rapidly  in¬ 
creasing  in  ratio  to  its  population,  has  found  it  more  and  more  neces¬ 
sary  to  open  a  foreign  market  for  the  food  which  could  not  be  con¬ 
sumed  at  home,  and  which  might  have  rotted  upon  the  field  except  it 
could  have  been  exported. 

The  reduction  in  the  railway  charge,  taken  by  itself,  may  fully  ac¬ 
count  for  the  rapid  increase  in  the  export  of  grain,  by  means  of  which 
we  more  than  balanced  our  import  and  paid  our  foreign  debt.  But 
there  is  a  yet  more  subtle  element  to  which  attention  might  well  be 
called.  The  value  of  the  imports  of  merchandise  over  and  above  our 
exports,  from  1866  to  1875  inclusive,  was  in  round  figures  $817,000,- 
000.  The  value  of  our  exports  of  merchandise  above  our  imports,  from 
1S76  to  1885  inclusive,  consisting  wholly  of  the  products  of  agricul¬ 
ture,  was  $r, 5 74,000,000. 

On  what  elements  did  this  depend  ?  The  railway  charge  upon  the 
twenty-six  great  systems  of  railway  which  diverge  from  Chicago  east 
and  west,  from  1866  to  1875,  was  2.1837  cents  per  mile  ;  from  1876  to 
1885  it  was  1. 1037,  making  a  saving  of  1.08  on  the  traffic  of  these 
specific  lines,  on  which  35  to  40  per  cent,  of  the  whole  railway  service 


The  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


185 


of  the  country  was  performed  ;  yet  this  difference  in  the  rate  of  charge 
on  these  specific  lines  only,  from  1876  to  1885  inclusive,  came  to  more 
than  $1,700,000,000,  as  compared  to  the  rate  charged  in  the  previous 
ten  years.  This  saving  alone  more  than  accounts  for  the  excess  of  our 
exports  over  our  imports,  which  excess  enabled  us  to  redeem  our 
bonds  or  to  import  the  coin  necessary  for  our  use. 

But  the  yet  more  subtle  element  is  this  :  The  self-binder  was  first 
successfully  attached  to  the  reaper  in  1876.  From  1867  to  1876  inclu¬ 
sive  our  average  crop  of  wheat,  varying  more  with  the  season  than  with  ‘ 
the  planted  area,  had  been  258,000,000  bushels.  In  1877,  when  the 
self-binder  first  began  to  be  used,  the  crop  mounted  to  nearly  364,- 
000,000  bushels.  Again  in  1878  it  mounted  up  ;  and  from  that  date 
to  1887  inclusive,  in  which  period  the  use  of  the  self-binder  had  become 
general,  the  average  crop,  varying  more  with  the  season  than  with  the 
planted  area,  was  440,000,000  bushels.  Could  the  crops  of  the  last  ten 
years  have  been  saved  without  the  self-binder  ? 

When  we  consider  the  fact  that  in  the  United  States  the  adoption 
of  each  harvester  did  away  with  the  work  of  seven  or  eight  men,  who 
had  previously  been  required  to  bind  the  crop  by  hand  during  the 
short  harvest  season  ;  when  we  consider  also  that  the  total  number  of 
self-binding  reapers  now  made  and  sold  is  more  than  100,000  a  year, 
requiring  over  30,000  tons  of  twine  to  bind  a  single  wheat  crop,  at  this 
date  1889,  over  50,000  tons,  do  we  not  find  in  the  tying  of  that'knot  on 
the  self-binding  harvester  a  main  factor  in  the  export  of  grain  with  the 
returning  import  of  gold,  on  which  we  resumed  specie  payment  ?  By 
that  single  improvement  the  cost  of  wheat  was  reduced  not  less  than  6 
per  cent.,  and  in  some  places  10  per  cent.  We  may  also  find  in  this 
little  knot  one  of  the  most  potent  factors  in  the  displacement  of 
unskilled  labor. 

There  is  an  intimate  connection  between  these  forces  and  the 
currency  question.  The  financial  danger  of  this  country  came  imme¬ 
diately  after  the  war  ended,  when  the  expenditures  were  at  their  maxi¬ 
mum  and  the  income  had  not  reached  its  full  measure.  The  green¬ 
back  craze  pervaded  the  country,  and  the  welfare  of  the  people  was 
held  to  depend  rather  upon  the  quantity  than  upon  the  quality  of  the 
circulating  medium.  At  that  date  there  had  been  no  record  in  history 
of  any  country  which  had  paid  a  great  war  debt,  or  of  any  country 
which,  having  issued  its  own  notes  and  having  made  use  of  them  under 
a  legal-tender  act  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  a  forced  loan,  had 
afterward  redeemed  or  paid  them  in  coin  according  to  promise.  Few 
there  were  at  that  time  who  had  firm  faith  either  in  the  redemption  of 
the  notes  or  in  the  speedy  payment  of  the  debt. 

The  great  war  debt  incurred  and  entered  upon  the  books  of  the 
nation  on  the  first  of  August,  1865,  amounted  to  $2,674,815,856.  To 


1 86  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 

this  sum  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Hon.  Hugh  McCulloch,  in  his 
last  report,  added  for  debt  due  August  1,  1865,  but  not  audited  and 
entered,  the  sum  of  $322,574,347.  The  maximum  debt  of  the  United 
States  was  therefore  $2,997,386,203.  It  has  since  been  reduced  to 
$1,500,000,000,  or  from  $84  to  $18  per  capita  of  the  population.  Sept. 
1,  1889,  $1,083,740,625. 

The  writer  was  apparently  the  first  to  prove,  in  an  address  to  the 
Republican  Convention  of  Massachusetts,  September  19,  1868,  that  if 
the  per  capita  taxation  of  the  United  States  were  maintained  at  the  rate 
then  imposed,  $8.60  a  year,  the  whole  debt  would  be  paid  before  Jan¬ 
uary  r,  1885,  as  it  would  have  been  had  not  the  average  rate  of  taxation 
per  capita  been  somewhat  reduced.  Its  final  payment  has  been 
deferred  a  little  longer  by  a  reduction  of  annual  taxation  to  about 
$6.00  per  capita,  of  which  nearly  $2.00  is  now  applied  to  the  payment 
of  the  debt.  There  will  probably  be  no  Congress  that  will  dare  reduce 
taxation  in  sufficient  measure  to  prevent  payment  of  the  last  dollar  of 
the  national  debt  before  the  end  of  the  century. 

During  this  period,  from  i860  to  the  present  time,  the  quantity  of 
the  circulating  medium,  consisting  of  coined  money  or  redeemable 
bank-notes  or  other  substitutes,  or  of  legal-tender  notes  which  under  a 
fiction  of  law  have  taken  the  place  of  true  money,  has  varied,  as  shown 
in  the  table  on  the  opposite  page. 

Through  the  courtesy  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  I  am  per¬ 
mitted  to  give  this  table  showing  the  total  amount  of  money,  or  of  the 
instruments  of  exchange  in  use  as  money,  consisting  of  coin,  legal- 
tender  notes,  convertible  bank-notes,  or  other  instruments  of  exchange 
in  use  at  the  several  dates  given,  computed  per  capita  in  ratio  to  the 
population  each  year.  Absolute  accuracy  is  not,  as  I  understand, 
claimed  for  this  table,  but  the  estimate  is  as  close  to  the  mark  as  it  is 
in  the  power  of  the  Treasury  Department  to  compute  it. 

It  will  be  observed  that  even  if  the  present  tendency  of  the  surplus 
revenue  is  to  cause  all  the  United  States  notes  to  fall  into  the  Treasury 
without  re-issue,  and  even  if  it  should  end  in  the  liquidation  by  way  of 
taxation  of  all  that  part  of  the  circulating  medium  which  now  consists 
of  United  States  legal-tender  notes  which  are  not  already  in  the 
Treasury  or  covered  by  coin  in  the  Treasury,  and  the  circulation  or 
volume  of  what  passes  for  money  should  be  contracted  to  that  extent, 
there  would  nevertheless  remain  in  circulation  in  coin,  in  gold  and 
silver  certificates,  or  in  convertible  bank-notes,  a  sum  per  capita  sub¬ 
stantially  the  same  as  that  of  the  year  1880.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  the  year  1880  was  a  year  of  more  than  normal  prosperity.  May  it 
not  therefore  be  inferred  that  the  country  is  now  rich  enough  and 
strong  enough  to  pay  its  demand  debt,  represented  by  the  legal-tender 
notes,  and  to  withdraw  those  notes  from  circulation  without  any 


The  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


187 


appreciable  effect  either  upon  prices,  wages,  or  credits  ?  If  such  be 
the  fact,  delay  in  reducing  the  so-called  surplus  revenue  by  reduction 
of  taxation  may,  so  far  as  its  effect  upon  the  circulating  medium  is  con¬ 
cerned,  work  no  injury  but  rather  a  benefit. 

The  table  on  page  188,  showing  the  relation  of  prices,  wages,  and 
purchasing  power  and  quantity  of  the  circulating  medium,  is  given  in 
order  to  sustain  this  view.  It  will  be  interesting  to  observe,  in  the  con- 


TABLE  SHOWING,  FOR  THE  UNITED  STATES,  THE  POPULATION, TOTAL  AMOUNT 
OF  MONEY,  AND  THE  AVERAGE  AMOUNT  PER  CAPITA  YEARLY,  FROM 

i860  TO  1887  INCLUSIVE. 


Year. 

Population. 

(Prof.  Elliott’s  Tables.) 

Total  amount  of  money,  exclusive 
of  legal  tender,  gold,  and  silver 
certificates.1  i860  to  1872  inc. 
taken  from  Fin.  Rep.  of  1886  ; 
1873  t0  1887  inc.  taken  from  Fin. 
Rep.  of  1887. 

Average  Amount  of 
Money  per  Capita. 

i860 

31,443,321 

$  442,102,477.00 

$14.06030 

l86l 

32,060,000 

488,005,767.00 

15.22164 

1962 

32,704,000 

532,832,079.00 

16.29257 

1863 

33,365,000 

623,100,168.75 

18.67526 

1864 

34,046,000 

1,062,840,516.50 

31.21778 

1865 

34,748,000 

1,180,197,147.76 

33.96446 

1866 

35,469,000 

1,068,065,785.96 

30. 11266 

1867 

36,211,000 

1,020,927,153.52 

28.19384 

1868 

36,973,000 

888,412,602.75 

24.02869 

1869 

37,756,000 

873,694,101.61 

23.14054 

1870 

38,558,371 

899,875,899.48 

23.33802 

1871 

39,555,ooo 

894,375,75U06 

22.61094 

1872 

40,596,000 

900,570,903.52 

22.18373 

1873 

41,677,000 

891,211,673.94 

21.38378 

1874 

42,796,000 

939,225,887.17 

21.94658 

1875 

46,951,000 

914,149,629.69 

20.79929 

1876 

45,137,000 

904,849,434.89 

20.04673 

1877 

46,353,000 

922,160,168.84 

19.89429 

1878 

47,598,000 

989,845,159.27 

20.79594 

1879 

48,886,000 

1,056,232,698.11 

21.61488 

1880 

50,155,783 

1,207,827,059.70 

24.08151 

l88l 

5i,495,ooo 

1,371,688,001.65 

26.63731 

1882 

52,802,000 

1,431,411,868.18 

27.IO905 

1883 

54,165,000 

I,494,404,497-I4 

27.58986 

1884 

55,556,000 

1,503,129,680.64 

27.05612 

1885 

56,975,000 

1,553,246,868.21 

27.26190 

1886 

58,420,000 

1,577,191,425.52 

26.99746 

1887 

59,893,000 

1,649,149,915.37 

27-53494 

Jos.  S.  McCoy, 
Acting  Government  Actuary. 

July  17,  1888. 


1  Gold  coin,  silver  coin,  and  United  States  notes  may  be  deposited  in  the  Treasury  under  present 
laws,  and  certificates  taken  out  which  enter  into  circulation  in  place  of  the  coin  and  notes  thus 
deposited. 


i88 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


sideration  of  this  table,  that  the  welfare  of  the  workman  has  wholly  de¬ 
pended  upon  the  quality  of  the  money  in  use,  and  not  upon  the  quan¬ 
tity,  again  enforcing  the  principle  that  if  we  keep  the  quality  of  our 
money  true  the  quantity  will  take  care  of  itself. 

In  respect  to  the  data  on  which  this  table  has  been  compiled,  I  beg 
to  say  once  more,  with  regard  to  thejratqs  of  wages, >Jhat  they  have  been 
averaged  from  a  compilation  of  the  figures  given  in  the  larger  number 
o7  establishments  treated  in  Volume  XX.  of  the  United  States  Census, 
those  of  which  I  have  had  some  knowledge  myself  as  to  their  having 
been  in  continuous  operation  throughout  the  period  treated,  or  else 

RELATION  OF  WAGES,  PRICES,  PURCHASING'  POWER  OF  WAGES,  AND  VOLUME, 
PER  CAPITA  OF  MONEY  OR  CURRENCY  IN  CIRCULATION  AT  THE 

RESPECTIVE  DATES  GIVEN. 


O.  2. — 


No.  i.  —  Average  wages  of  mechanics,  engineers,  carpenters,  machinists,  and  painters. 

connected  with  the  mills  and  works  treated  in  Vol.  XX.,  United  States. 
Census  ;  establishments  in  Eastern,  Middle,  and  Western  States. 

Average  cost  of  one  day’s  supply  of  food,  fuel,  and  material  for  clothing 
customarily  used  by  such  mechanics,  computed  at  retail  prices  in  20  shops  ; 
10  east  and  10  west  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Purchasing  power  of  300  days’  wages  in  equal  portions  of  the  same  kinds  of 
food,  fuel,  and  cloth  as  above  given. 

Quantity  per  capita  of  coin,  convertible  bank-notes,  and  legal-tender  notes  in 
circulation  or  in  use  as  money  at  the  respective  dates. 


The  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


189 


such  as  from  the  nature  of  the  work  must  have  been  fully  employed 
throughout  the  whole  period,  being  selected  for  the  purpose.  The 
rates  are  doubtless  somewhat  lower  than  would  be  shown  by  a  compi¬ 
lation  of  figures  given  by  mechanics  themselves,  engaged  in  analogous, 
trades.  This  would  always  be  the  case  if  the  wages  of  mechanics  who 
are  permanently  employed  in  connection  with  factories  were  compared 
with  those  whose  work  is  transient  and  not  continuous  throughout  the 
year,  owing  to  the  nature  of  the  occupations,  as  in  the  building  trades'. 
The  rates  of  wages  have  also  been  compared  with  those  computed  on 
special  investigations  made  on  my  own  behalf,  from  typical  establish¬ 
ments  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  which  I  know  to  be  correct. 

With  respect  to  prices,  I  hacLmyself  made  averages  of  prices  from 
data  obtained  by  myself  before  Volume  XX.  of  the  Census  was  issued  ; 
and  by  comparing  my  own  data  with  those  of  the  Census,  I  was  able 
to  verify  the  prices  given  in  that  volume  for  the  Eastern  StatejL  The 
number  of  portions  assigned  to  360  days’  work  of  course  assumes  con¬ 
tinuous  work,  like  that  of  the  factory,  which  runs  every  working  day  in 
the  year,  omitting  Sundays  and  holidays,  customarily  computed  at 
three  hundred  days. 

The  computation  of  money  or  currency  per  capita  is  as  accurate  as 
the  official  data  of  the  Mint  and  of  the  Treasury  Department  will 
permit.  The  only  issue  which  can  be  raised  affecting  it,  is  in  regard 
to  the  quantity  or  amount  of  coin  in  the  hands  of  the  people.  This 
subject  has  been  a  matter  of  considerable  discussion  ;  suffice  it  to  say 
that  the  absolute  knowledge  of  the  subject  possessed  by  the  Depart¬ 
ment  of  the  Mint  would  substantially  verify  the  proportions  of  currency 
per  capita  given  in  this  table,  even  if  the  amounts  did  not  absolutely 
correspond  and  were  somewhat  less. 

It  may,  therefore,  I  think,  be  safely  assumed  that  the  margins  for 
error  in  these  four  computations  are  very  small  ;  and  if  all  errors  were 
eliminated,  while  the  figures  might  be  slightly  changed,  the  ratios  or 
proportions  would  not  be  varied  sufficiently  to  affect  the  general 
conclusion. 

In  view  of  these  variations  in  the  quantity  of  money  or  currency 
in  use  at  different  dates,  which  bear  no  steady  or  uniform  proportion 
either  to  the  volume  of  trade  or  to  the  population  of  the  country,  it  is 
apparent  that  the  quantitative  theory  of  the  currency  cannot  be  main¬ 
tained.  May  it  not  be  held  that  confidence  and  credit  have  been 
greater  factors  in  making  prices  than  the  quantity  of  the  money  or 
circulating  medium  of  the  country,  which  is  made  use  of  directly  only 
in  the  petty  or  retail  transactions  of  trade  ?  Is  it  not  the  confidence 
engendered  by  the  way  in  which  we  have  overcome  difficulties  and 
dangers,  that  keeps  our  mixed  currency  at  par  with  gold  at  the  present 
time  and  that  will  enable  us  to  surmount  difficulties  yet  to  come  ?  If 


190  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 

we  keep  the  quality  of  our  money  good  we  may  be  sure  that  the 
quantity  will  take  care  of  itself. 

The  resumption  of  specie  payment  took  place  January  1,  1879  ; 
the  fiscal  year  ends  June  30th  ;  it  is  therefore  more  easy  to  make  com¬ 
pilations  from  that  date  by  calendar  years.  From  July  1,  1879,  to 
July  1,  1887,  the  declared  value  of  our  net  imports  of  merchandise  was 
$5,640,261,758.  In  the  same  period  the  declared  value  of  our  exports 
of  merchandise  was  $6,764,311,704.  The  true  value  of  exports  has 
doubtless  been  somewhat  greater,  as  those  which  go  by  rail  to  Canada 
and  to  Mexico  have  not  been  accurately  recorded  ;  the  official  reports 
of  the  Dominion  of  Canada  and  of  Mexico  prove  them  to  be  in  excess 
of  the  value  declared  in  this  country. 

It  will  be  apparent  that  such  an  enormous  volume  of  exports 
could  not  have  been  sold  for  payment  in  money  only,  since  the  stand¬ 
ard  of  international  commerce  is  coin  or  bullion.  The  coin  which 
serves  the  purpose  of  international  commerce  is  computed  at  the  gold 
standard,  there  being  no  legal  tender  in  international  exchange.  Such 
a  demand  for  gold  or  gold  bullion  in  sole  payment  for  our  exports 
would  have  drained  every  bank  in  Europe,  and  we  should  have  no 
domestic  use  for  such  an  amount  of  coin  ;  therefore  unless  an  exchange 
of  domestic  for  foreign  products  had  been  possible  the  export  could 
not  have  been  made.  We  could  not  have  paid  for  our  imports  in  coin 
only,  nor  could  foreign  countries  have  paid  us  for  our  exports  in  coin 
only.  International  trade  must  of  necessity  mainly  consist  in  an 
exchange  of  goods  for  goods,  the  balance  only  being  settled  in  gold. 
Had  it  not  been  possible  to  make  this  exchange,  or  to  export  the  excess 
of  our  corn,  wheat,  dairy  products,  cotton,  and  oil,  this  excess  could 
not  have  been  consumed  at  home,  as  the  remainder  met  the  demand 
of  the  most  abundant  and  increasing  consumption  ;  nor  could  many 
of  our  domestic  industries  have  continued  without  the  import  of  crude 
or  partly  manufactured  materials  from  abroad. 

This  mutual  dependence  or  interdependence  of  nations  is  too  gen¬ 
erally  admitted  to  make  it  worth  while  to  waste  time  on  the  theories  of 
a  few  incapable  persons  who  advocate  national  isolation,  with  whom 
discussion  is  useless.  The  benefit  of  foreign  commerce,  under  certain 
conditions,  is  fully  admitted  by  every  one.  It  may  be  admitted  that 
the  duties  upon  foreign  imports  give  a  different  direction  to  domestic 
industry,  but  the  effect,  whether  beneficial  or  otherwise,  of  our  present 
system  of  duties,  has  been,  in  the  opinion  of  the  writer,  very  greatly 
exaggerated  by  the  representations  of  both  sides  in  the  discussion  of 
the  system.  When  this  becomes  a  part  of  the  common  conviction,  the 
reform  of  the  tariff,  admitted  by  both  parties  to  be  necessary,  may  be 
entered  upon  by  reasonable  men  without  bitter  contention,  and  with 
the  simple  purpose  of  adjusting  the  necessary  revenue  duties  so  as  to 


The  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


I9I 

give  the  widest  scope  to  the  development  of  domestic  industry,  and  to 
interpose  the  least  obstruction  to  the  exchange  of  product  for  product, 
in  which  our  foreign  commerce  must,  in  the  nature  of  things,  consist. 

The  point  to  which  I  desire  to  give  prominence  in  this  treatise  is, 
that  in  spite  of  the  depreciation  and  the  fluctuations  in  the  currency, 
and  in  spite  of  the  ill-adjusted  burden  of  taxation  of  all  kinds  which 
is  now  admitted  by  all  parties,  whether  under  a  tariff,  under  the  internal 
revenue  system,  or  under  State  and  municipal  assessments,  the  effect  of 
these  minor  forces  has  been  but  to  retard  in  some  measure  the  great 
progress  of  this  country.  Confidence  and  credit  have  been  based  on 
the  progress  which  is  assured  by  the  application  of  invention  and  of 
science  to  human  welfare ;  these  elements  of  commerce  have  far  more 
than  counterbalanced  the  blunders  and  stupidities  of  financial  legisla¬ 

tion,  and  will  ultimately  force  our  fiscal  system  into  harmony  with  the 
higher  laws  of  material  progress. 

If  some  of  the  computations  presented  in  this  treatise  are  already 
familiar  to  my  readers,  I  can  only  justify  their  repetition  by  having 
brought  them  down  to  a  later  date. 


V. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  SUBSISTENCE.1 


ONE  of  the  most  noticeable  facts  of  the  present  day  is  the  great 
and  general  interest  in  statistics.  It  is  now  admitted  that 
every  economic  hopothesis  must  be  tried  by  the  test  of  figures 
to  see  if  it  coincides  with  the  facts  of  life.  It  is  also  admitted  that  these 
figures  must  be  compiled,  sorted,  and  corrected  by  well-trained  men 
and  the  work  guided  by  their  judgment,  so  that  the  figures  may  not  lie. 
Both  parties  in  the  national  Congress  have  united  in  establishing  the 
national  Department  of  Labor  Statistics,  and  more  than  half  the  States 
have  established  State  bureaus.  Not  least  significant  among  various 
incidents  is  the  fact  that  special  labor  organizations  are  making  ap¬ 
pointments  of  statisticians  by  whom  the  specific  figures  relating  to  their 
separate  departments  of  labor  may  be  compiled.  After  a  few  years 
.there  will  be  a  basis  for  a  true  science  -of  statistics  such_asJxas  never 
heretofore  existed  ;  it  almost  exists  to-day,  and  from  it  a  true  science 
oTlnductiye~politicaI  economy  may  soon  be  evolved. 

By  drawing  from  every  source  as  yet  available,  the  writer  has 
recently  presented  statistics  which  cannot  be  gainsaid,  proving,  so 
far  as  figures  suffice  for  proof,  that  greater  progress  than  ever  before 
has  been  made  during  the  present  generation,  dating  from  1865,  when 
this  nation  first  truly  attained  its  independence,  in  providing  for  the 
means  of  subsistence,  shelter,  and  clothing,  and  in  organizing  the  ma¬ 
chinery  for  distributing  the  necessaries  of  life.  Computations  have 
also  been  given  which  go  far  to  prove  not  only  that  since  the  dangers, 
difficulties,  and  destruction  of  the  Civil  War  were  surmounted  and  since 
slavery  was  abolished,  there  has  been  a  more  equal  distribution  of  the 
necessaries  of  life  among  the  masses  of  the  people  of  this  country,  but 
also  that  there  has  been  a  more  equitable  distribution  since  the  stand¬ 
ard  of  value  of  the  country  was  re-established  on  a  specie  basis. 

No  attempt  has  yet  been  made  to  compile  or  to  compare  the 
statistics  of  the  hours  of  labor,  but  figures  are  not  needed  to  prove  to 
any  one  who  has  even  a  moderate  faculty  for  observation,  that  the 
hours  of  labor  as  a  whole  have  been  diminished,  while  much  of  the  hard 
hand  work  has  been  displaced  by  labor-saving  mechanism.  In  the  fac- 

1  Reprinted  from  the  Forum . 

192 


The  Struggle  for  Subsistence. 


193 


tory,  either  by  way  of  legislation  or  in  spite  of  legislation,  it  matters 
not  which  for  our  present  purpose,  ten  hours  have  become  customary 
in  place  of  eleven  or  even  twelve  ;  the  usual  hours  of  work  in  textile 
factories  forty  or  fifty  years  ago  having  been  thirteen  and  even  four¬ 
teen.  In  the  building  trades,  either  by  way  of  trade  unions  or  in  spite 
of  them,  nine  and  ten  hours  have  become  customary  in  place  of  eleven 
and  twelve,  or  even  more.  In  all  the  great  retail  shops  and  wholesale 
warehouses  in  which  goods  are  distributed,  the  hour  of  closing  is  earlier 
and  the  hour  of  opening  is  later  than  it  used  to  be.  In  the  factory  the 
rooms  are  better  lighted,  better  ventilated,  and  in  winter  more  uni¬ 
formly  heated  than  ever  before.  Attention  to  sanitary  conditions  has 
become  necessary  even  to  pecuniary  success.  In  the  field  the  farm 
laborer  rides  upon  the  plow  or  upon  the  mowing  machine,  the  hay  rake, 
or  the  tedder,  freed  from  the  hard  labor  of  guiding  the  plow  by  hand, 
mowing  the  hay  with  the  scythe,  or  reaping  the  harvest  with  the  sickle. 
The  steam  harvester  and  thresher  have  rendered  the  work  of  saving  the 
grain  crop  vastly  more  effective  and  much  less  arduous  to  each  person. 
In  the  building  trades  the  small  hoisting  engine  lifts  the  men  and  the 
materials  to  the  tops  of  the  highest  buildings,  while  much  of  the  heavy 
work  of  preparing  the  timber  and  other  materials,  which  formerly  re¬ 
quired  long  and  arduous  work  by  hand,  is  done  by  steam  or  water 
power  in  the  factory.  The  optimist  can  thus  find  on  every  side  facts 
which  sustain  his  view  that  the  general  struggle  for  life  is  becoming 
easier  and  not  harder,  while  the  statistics  of  the  life-insurance  compa¬ 
nies  prove  that  the  duration  of  life  is  lengthening. 

Even  in  some  cases  where  the  quality  of  the  working  people  may 
appear  to  have  deteriorated,  and  their  standard  of  living  to  be  no 
longer  equal  to  what  it  was  in  the  same  pursuit  twenty  or  thirty  years 
ago,  one  may  find,  on  looking  a  little  deeper  into  the  causes  of  the 
change,  that  by  way  of  improvements  in  machinery  either  less  intelli¬ 
gence  or  less  mechanical  aptitude  is  now  required  on  the  part  of  those 
who  tend  the  machines  than  was  formerly  needed  in  the  same  branch 
of  industry.  In  this  way  a  class  of  operatives  has  been  brought  into 
the  factory  and  there  enabled  to  do  efficient  work,  for  whom  a  few 
years  since  there  would  have  been  no  place  above  the  plane  of  un¬ 
skilled,  menial,  or  common  labor  ;  while  the  class  of  operatives 
formerly  required  to  do  this  kind  of  work  has  been  lifted  up  to  better 
conditions,  better  work,  and  better  wages  by  the  possession  of  the  same 
superior  qualities  which  first  enabled  them  to  do  the  work  of  the 
factory  when  the  machinery  did  less  and  the  man  or  woman  did  more. 
Forty  or  fifty  years  since,  the  daughters  of  the  farmers  of  New  Eng¬ 
land  worked  thirteen  hours  a  day  in  the  cotton  factory  in  order  to  earn 
$175  a  year  ;  to-day  French  Canadians,  working  ten  hours  a  day,  earn 
$300  a  year  ;  yet  the  cost  of  labor  is  less  now  than  ever  before. 


i94 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


Every  point  thus  far  recited  can  be  sustained  by  such  evidence  that 
it  cannot  be  gainsaid  by  any  one.  In  a  broad  and  general  way  it  might 
be  proved  that  Uncle  Sam  and  his  children  have  obtained  such  power 
over  the  mechanism  of  production  and  distribution  during  the  past 
twenty-five  years,  that  if  the  long  hours  of  work  required  thirty  years 
ago  to  produce  the  materials  for  a  narrow  and  poor  subsistence  were 
now  applied  under  the  new  conditions,  the  same  hours  would  yield  at 
least  one  third  more  of  all  the  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life  than  they 
did  then.  This  gain  in  power  has  been  applied  in  two  ways.  First,  it 
has  led  in  part  to  shortening  the  hours  of  work.  Secondly,  it  has  led 
in  part  to  the  attainment  of  a  more  ample  subsistence  and  to  a  higher 
standard  of  common  comfort  and  welfare.  A  better  subsistence,  better 
clothing,  and  better  shelter  are  now  obtained  with  shorter  hours  of 
work  and  less  arduous  effort  than  ever  before,  by  all  who  have  aptitude 
and  industry  coupled  with  the  mental  capacity  which  is  required  to 
enable  them  to  adopt  the  new  methods.  Such  must  be  the  necessary 
conclusion  from  a  comparison  of  the  conditions  of  the  present  genera¬ 
tion  with  those  of  the  one  next  preceding  it. 

Yet  no  one  can  be  blind  to  the  fact  that  in  many  occupations  which 
are  necessary  to  the  present  mode  of  life,  great  numbers  of  persons  are 
either  worked  to  the  utmost  of  their  strength,  or  else  are  of  necessity 
occupied  so  many  hours  of  each  day  that  what  time  remains  to  them  is 
barely  sufficient  for  eating  and  sleeping,  so  that  healthy  recreation  is 
absolutely  wanting.  Time  has  not  yet  been  saved  to  all.  The  well- 
trained  or  skilled  workman  can  get  more  with  less  effort,  but  the  com¬ 
mon  laborers  have  increased  relatively  in  their  number  by  immigration, 
and  are  not  yet  educated  to  the  level  of  the  present  opportunity  ;  hence 
arises  want  in  the  midst  of  plenty,  and  a  waste  of  abundance  which  with 
better  individual  training  might  be  saved  and  made  conducive  to  com¬ 
fort  and  leisure. 

Again,  many  occupations  which  are  necessary  to  the  present 
methods  of  life,  and  without  which  modern  society  could  not  exist  in 
its  present  form — especially  the  kind  of  work  which  is  done  in  great 
factories,  mines,  and  furnaces — involve  the  continuous  labor  of  multi¬ 
tudes  of  men  and  even  of  women  under  very  monotonous  and  in  some 
few  branches  even  noxious  conditions,  or  else  under  conditions  in 
which  the  attainment  of  even  a  physically  clean  and  wholesome  life  for 
a  part  of  each  day  or  week  seems  almost  hopeless. 

What  is  called  division  of  labor  distributes  and  sorts  men  and 
women  each  to  a  separate  part  of  the  work,  which  may  be  in  some 
cases  harmful  to  health,  in  some  cases  so  extremely  monotonous  that 
there  is  no  mental  stimulus  in  it,  and  in  some  cases  so  depressing  or 
even  degrading  in  its  necessary  conditions  as  to  preclude  almost  any 
hope  of  mental  development.  It  is  one  kind  of  work  all  the  time,  in 


The  Struggle  for  Subsistence. 


*95 


place  of  many  and  varying  kinds  dividing  the  longer  day’s  labor.  In 
former  days  there  may  have  been  more  hard  work,  more  unpleasant 
work,  and  even  more  unwholesome  work  to  be  done  ;  but  was  it  not 
so  divided  and  distributed  that  but  few  persons  were  limited  to  work 
of  any  one  kind,  day  in  and  day  out,  for  three  hundred  days  in  the 
year  ?  Was  there  not  more  variety,  more  versatility,  and  more  oppor¬ 
tunity  for  young  men  and  women  to  find  out  for  themselves  what  they 
could  do  in  the  best  way,  and  also  a  better  opportunity  to  improve 
their  position  than  there  is  now  in  the  arts  to  which  this  so-called 
system  of  division  of  labor  has  been  applied  ?  Was  there  not  also  a 
more  humane  relation  between  the  employer  and  the  employed,  more 
sympathy,  and  more  recognized  mutuality  in  the  service  of  each  to  the 
other?  Yet,  if  the  great  factory  did  not  exist,  and  were  it  not  for 
modern  machinery  and  mechanism  and  this  subdivision  of  labor  which 
has  become  necessary  to  any  adequate  supply  of  the  means  of  living, 
how  could  the  existing  population  of  Massachusetts,  for  instance,  of 
whom  at  the  present  time  more  than  one  fourth  are  foreign-born,  and 
more  than  one  half  of  foreign  parentage,  live  even  as  well  as  they  do  ? 
Had  it  not  been  possible  for  these  foreigners  to  come  here  in  order  to 
avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity  which  is  offered,  how  could  they 
have  existed  at  all  in  the  lands  which  gave  them  birth,  which  are  even 
now  overcrowded  ?  If  it  sometimes  seems  that  progress  and  poverty 
march  together,  one  may  ask  what  would  have  been  the  poverty  with¬ 
out  the  progress  ?  If  the  analysis  of  our  present  condition,  relatively 
good  as  it  is  compared  to  former  times  or  to  other  countries,  yet 
proves  that  only  a  narrow,  poor,  and  meagre  life  has  become  possible 
to  great  masses  of  people,  in  what  direction  shall  we  look  for  the 
progress  in  which  poverty  shall  cease  to  be  one  of  the  phases  or 
correlatives  ?  Can  we  lift  great  masses  of  people  all  together  to  a 
higher  plane,  or  must  we  rest  content  with  such  developments  as  open 
their  own  way  to  those  who  have  the  eyes  to  see  and  the  capacity  to 
attain  each  for  himself  or  herself  ?  Can  any  one  be  boosted  by  the 
state  who  cannot  help  himself  ? 

After  all  has  been  proved  in  respect  to  greater  abundance,  lower 
cost,  more  equitable  distribution,  higher  wages,  and  smaller  margins 
of  profit  ;  after  all  has  been  recited  that  can  be  claimed  in  the  line  of 
progress,  what  does  it  come  to  ?  What  is  the  result  ?  What  is  the 
present  measure  or  limit  within  which  each  and  all  must  of  necessity 
'subsist?  Is  it  sufficient  and  ought  it  to  induce  content,  or  is  there 
a  sound  and  reasonable  cause  for  discontent  and  a  craving  for  some¬ 
thing  better  ? 

In  order  to  consider  these  questions  great  aggregates  in  millions 
must  be  avoided ;  such  figures  only  mislead  and  delude.  The  condi¬ 
tions  of  life  must  be  brought  down  to  the  unit  of  the  individual  or  of 


196 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


the  family.  When  this  has  been  done,  the  few  who  have  attained  an 
abundance,  and  who  have  reaped  the  full  benefit  of  all  that  scienee 
and  invention  have  enabled  them  to  accomplish,  may  for  the  first  time 
begin  to  comprehend  the  aspect  of  life  that  is  presented  to  the  many 
who  have  not  yet  secured  a  much  better  subsistence,  or  a  more  suitable 
dwelling,  or  greater  comfort  and  better  opportunities. 

These  problems  must  be  studied  from  below  as  well  as  from  above, 
from  within  as  well  as  from  without,  if  the  discontent  of  the  present 
day  is  to  be  removed  by  gradual,  peaceful,  and  adequate  methods  ;  for 
the  very  reason  that  the  better  conditions  of  life  which  are  now  so 
readily  attained  by  those  who  are  capable  of  grasping  the  opportunity 
offered  them,  bring  into  more  and  more  conspicuous  contrast  the 
adverse  conditions  of  those  who  have  not  yet  become  capable  of  such 
attainment. 

Probably  very  few  of  the  persons  who  will  read  this  article,  in  fact 
very  few  among  those  who  read  with  interest  and  intelligence  any 
articles,  essays,  or  books  upon  what  is  called  the  labor  question,  have 
themselves  had  the  kind  of  experience  which  is  necessary  to  enable 
them  to  comprehend  the  aspect  of  life  to  the  man  who  can  earn  only 
one  or  two  dollars  a  day  for  the  support  of  himself  and  of  his  family, 
if  he  has  one.  Perhaps  even  a  less  number  may  have  the  kind  of 
imagination  that  will  enable  them,  without  having  had  the  experience, 
to  comprehend  the  struggle  for  life  on  these  terms,  even  if  they  try  to 
put  themselves  in  the  place  of  the  common  laborer  or  of  the  mechanic 
who  can  barely  do  the  limited  and  monotonous  work  in  which  he 
is  occupied,  without  the  prospect  of  ever  doing  any  thing  more  or 
different. 

If  it  shall  prove  that  a  great  number  of  people  at  the  bottom  can 
barely  exist,  while  a  considerable  number  at  the  top  enjoy  much  more 
than  is  required  for  a  good  subsistence,  may  it  not  soon  become  neces¬ 
sary  for  those  who  are  in  possession  of  wealth  to  justify  their  position, 
by  proving  that  by  the  use  either  of  their  own  personal  ability  or  of 
their  capital  they  add  more  to  the  annual  product  from  which  all  in¬ 
comes  are  derived  than  they  take  from  it  for  their  own  consumption  ? 
The  man  of  superior  ability  may  add  a  million  dollars’  worth  a  year 
to  the  value  of  the  annual  product,  which  addition  except  for  him 
would  not  have  been  made  ;  from  this  he  may  secure  a  personal  in¬ 
come  of  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year,  yet  he  costs  the  com¬ 
munity  only  what  he  and  those  who  depend  upon  him  consume.  Is  he 
not  a  cheap  man  for  the  community  to  employ  in  its  service,  even  if 
he  finds  his  recreation  in  fine  horses  and  a  fast  yacht  ? 

If  nine  tenths  of  the  product  which  he  has  brought  into  use  falls 
into  the  common  stock  whether  he  will  or  not,  cannot  the  community 
well  afford  to  him  his  tithe  even  if  he  wastes  it  ?  Vanderbilt  reduced 


The  Struggle  for  Subsistence. 


l97 


the  cost  of  moving  a  barrel  of  flour  a  thousand  miles  from  a  dollar 
and  a  half  to  fifty  cents  ;  was  he  not  a  cheap  man  for  the  community 
to  employ  even  if  he  did  make  a  hundred  million  dollars  ?  What  he 
made  himself  was  but  a  tithe  of  what  he  saved  to  the  community. 

In  other  essays  I  have  endeavored  to  show  that  not  exceeding  ten 
per  cent,  of  the  product  of  a  normal  or  average  year  can  be  saved  in 
a  concrete  form  and  added  to  the  capital  of  the  nation.  Whether  this 
ratio  is  correct  or  not,  it  will  be  admitted  by  all  that  a  certain  amount 
of  capital  must  be  saved  in  some  way  in  order  that  society  may  con¬ 
tinue  to  exist,  even  under  the  present  narrow  conditions  of  life.  It 
will  be  generally  admitted  that  it  is  more  important  that  capital  should 
be  efficiently  maintained  than  it  is  to  determine  who  saves  it  or  who 
controls  it.  A  large  part  of  this  addition  to  capital  may,  and  doubt¬ 
less  does,  consist  of  the  savings  of  persons  who  can  never  hope  to 
accumulate  enough  to  enable  themselves  to  give  up  work  in  their  later 
years,  or  to  live  wholly  upon  the  income  of  what  they  may  save.  The 
most  that  the  great  majority  can  expect  to  do,  is  to  lay  up  a  moderate 
sum  of  which  they  may  expend  the  principal  when  they  become  dis¬ 
qualified  for  work,  unless  they  are  then  supported  by'  their  children 
wholly  or  in  part. 

There  are  no  data  by  means  of  which  the  number  of  the  rich  or 
even  of  the  well-to-do  persons  can  be  set  off  as  a  separate  class  from 
the  rest  of  the  community  ;  that  is  to  say,  there  is  no  way  to  find  out 
how  many  can  accumulate  a  sufficient  amount  of  capital  to  enable 
themselves  or  their  children  to  live  upon  the  income  of  their  property 
without  further  work.  Suffice  it  that  the  proportion  is  very  small  in¬ 
deed  in  point  of  number  ;  and  as  the  margin  of  profit  becomes  less, 
or  as  the  amount  of  capital  required  in  order ’to  yield  an  income 
sufficient  for  a  comfortable  support  without  work  becomes  greater,  the 
proportion  of  those  who  can  hope  to  live  without  work  in  their  later 
years  will  probably  diminish  rather  than  increase  as  time  goes  on. 

It  is  probable,  to  say  the  least,  that  fully  ninety  per  cent,  of  the 
whole  body  of  the  people  spend  nearly  all  that  they  earn  ;  of  this 
ninety  percent,  a  portion  may,  by  setting  aside  a  moderate  part  of  their 
small  earnings,  become  the  owners  of  a  house,  or  become  depositors 
in  a  savings  bank,  or  insure  their  lives  in  a  moderate  way  ;  of  the 
remaining  ten  per  cent,  a  part  save  enough  to  protect  themselves 
against  want  in  their  later  years,  and  a  very  small  part  may  become 
rich,  and  then  need  not  work  unless  they  choose.  There  are  but  few 
in  each  generation  who  do  not  choose  to  work,  whatever  their  motive 
may  be  and  however  rich  they  may  be  ;  the  actual  drones  are  but  a 
small  fraction  even  of  the  rich,  hardly  calling  for  attention.  They 
are,  like  Mr.  Toots,  of  little  consequence  to  themselves  and  of  no 
consequence  to  others. 


198 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


When  it  is  admitted  that  the  whole  capital  of  the  richest  State  in 
this  Union  does  not,  and  probably  never  can,  exceed  in  value  three 
years’  annual  product  of  the  same  State  ;  and  that  the  people  of  the 
richest  State  are  always  within  one  year  of  starvation,  within  two 
years  of  being  naked,  and  within  a  very  few  years  of  being  houseless 
and  homeless,  unless  they  work  for  a  living,  what  possibility  is  there 
that  any  considerable  part  of  one  generation  can  save  their  children 
to  any  extent  from  the  beneficent  necessity  of  supporting  themselves  ? 
Our  present  aggregate  product,  whatever  it  may  be,  being  mostly  con¬ 
sumed  by  those  who  work  for  a  living,  what  is  the  limit  within  which 
the  measure  or  cost  of  living  must  of  necessity  be  confined?  When 
we  have  settled  this  question  we  may  ask,  What  is  the  aspect  of  life  to 
the  average  man  or  woman  who  works  for  a  living  in  order  to  gain  a 
mere  subsistence,  and  what  can  we  do  to  better  it  ? 

In  the  next  article  I  will  give  the  reasons  for  my  conclusion  that 
the  present  limit  within  which  the  great  mass  of  the  people  of  this 
country  must  find  food,  fuel,  shelter,  and  clothing  ranges  between  that 
which  forty  cents  and  that  which  sixty  cents  a  day  will  buy  for  each 
man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  community,  the  average  not  exceeding 
what  fifty  cents  a  day  will  purchase.  It  requires  the  work  for  gain  or 
the  earnings  in  money  of  more  than  one  in  three  in  the  population  to 
sustain  the  whole  community  ;  and  the  average  earnings  of  the  great 
mass  of  the  people  range  from  $1.00  to  $3.00  a  day,  on  which  earn¬ 
ings  three  persons  must  be  sheltered,  fed,  and  clothed. 

The  picture  which  is  brought  before  the  eye  or  mind  of  him  who  can 
take  in  the  full  significance  of  these  figures  is  somewhat  appalling.  It 
might  lead  many  to  ask,  If  this  is  the  result  of  the  highest  civilization 
yet  attained  by  the  most  favored  nation,  is  life  on  the  whole  worth  liv¬ 
ing  ?  and  one  must  carefully  guard  himself  against  the  influences  of 
materialistic  philosophy  in  order  to  keep  an  even  balance  in  his 
own  life. 

It  may  not  be  judicious  for  the  mere  business  observer,  who  cannot 
claim  to  be  able  to  comprehend  any  thing  more  than  the  elements  of 
the  philosophy  of  history,  to  venture  to  forecast  the  future  ;  yet  to  many 
prosperous  persons  who  now  pay  little  regard  to  the  blind  struggle  of 
vast  numbers  of  working  men  and  women  to  improve  their  condition, 
and  who  think  workmen  have  no  rights  to  be  secured  and  no  wrongs  to 
be  redressed,  one  may  rightly  put  the  question,  Have  not  you  also 
something  to  do  in  the  solution  of  these  problems  ?  Are  there  not 
signs  of  danger  ?  May  not  the  existing  unbearable  tension  among 
European  nations,  burdened  as  they  are  with  monstrous  national  debts 
that  can  never  be  paid,  and  with  huge  and  onerous  standing  armies 
which  it  seems  to  be  impossible  to  disband,  end  in  revolutions  in  which 
many  feudal  privileges  and  vested  wrongs  may  go  down  forever,  but  in 


The  Struggle  for  Subsistence. 


199 


which  also  many  institutions  covering  not  only  rights  of  property  in 
land  but  in  all  the  products  on  which  existence  depends,  may  for  a 
time  be  questioned  ?  If  such  should  be  the  course  of  events  in  other 
countries,  are  we  so  strong  in  our  popular  government  that  we  ourselves 
may  not  share  some  of  these  difficulties  and  dangers  ?  Or  even  if  there 
be  no  danger  to  society  in  this  country,  and,  as  the  writer  most  pro¬ 
foundly  believes,  nothing  but  benefit  to  be  ultimately  gained  from  the 
organization  of  labor  and  the  study  of  economic  problems  by  so-called 
labor  associations,  clubs,  and  societies,  might  not  all  others  also  join  in 
attempting  to  solve  these  problems,  to  the  end  that  free  institutions 
may  be  fully  justified,  not  only  by  those  who  possess  an  abundance,  but 
also  by  those  who  can  find  in  such  institutions  the  opportunity  for  them¬ 
selves  or  their  children  to  attain  the  conditions  of  life  which  may  indeed 
make  this  life  worth  living  to  the  poor  as  well  as  to  thq  prosperous  ? 


J 


VI. 


THE  PRICE  OF  LIFE.1 

IN  my  Jast  essay  I  endeavored  to  present  the  condition  of  life  as 
they  must  of  necessity  appear  to  him  or  her  who  earns  little  more 
than  enough,  or  barely  enough,  to  support  material  existence.  In 
those  which  preceded  it  I  endeavored  to  define  the  limit  within  which  life 
must  be  sustained,  if  sustained  at  all,  under  the  present  conditions  of 
production  and  distribution.  The  series  would  be  incomplete  if  in  this 
paper  the  figures  which  define  the  limit  were  not  again  presented  and 
worked  out  more  fully  and  conclusively  than  they  have  been  elsewhere. 
In  the  subsequent  computations  I  shall  omit  small  fractions  and  shall 
deal  with  round  figures  only. 

In  1880  the  average  family  group  consisted  of  five  persons  ;  the 
working  group  consisted  of  a  fraction  under  three  persons,  one  of  whom 
sustained  two  others.  The  time  had  not  then  come,  and  has  not  yet  come, 
when  the  work  of  women  and  children  for  gain  or  money  payment  could 
or  can  be  spared  ;  it  will  be  many  long  years  before  the  head  of  every 
family  of  five  persons  can  produce  enough,  or  can  procure  enough  by 
his  own  exertions,  for  the  support,  in  comfort  and  welfare,  of  four  per¬ 
sons  dependent  upon  him.  This  would  be  true  if  we  were  to  consume 
for  mere  subsistence  every  thing  that  we  produce.  If  the  total  product 
were  divided  evenly  and  consumed,  there  would  not  be  enough  to  raise 
the  general  level  much  above  what  it  now  is,  and  the  next  generation 
would  then  suffer  want  because  we  had  eaten  up  or  worn  out  that  part 
of  the  product  which  ought  to  have  been  saved  in  the  form  of  capital. 

In  all  the  computations  which  existing  data  enable  me  to  make,  I 
have  been  obliged  to  stretch  a  point  and  to  assume  a  maximum  rather 
than  a  minimum  estimate  of  the  gross  value  of  the  product  of  the 
nation,  in  order  to  find  six  hundred  dollars’  worth  of  food,  fuel,  shelter, 
and  clothing  as  the  average  product  of  each  person  occupied  for  gain, 
by  which  product,  whatever  it  maybe,  three  persons  must  be  subsisted, 
housed,  and  clothed.  This  is  the  gross  product.  Unless  ten  per  cent, 
of  the  six  hundred  dollars’  worth  be  set  aside  by  some  one,  whether  by 
rich  or  by  poor  matters  not,  to  be  added  to  the  capital  of  the  nation* 

1  Reprinted  from  the  Forum. 


200 


The  Price  of  Life . 


201 


the  product  of  future  years  will  be  diminished  rather  than  increased,, 
and  want  will  then  ensue  rather  than  welfare. 

Again,  a  part  of  this  product  must  be  diverted  by  taxation  to  meet 
the  necessary  expenditures  of  the  country  and  of  the  several  States, 
cities,  and  towns.  The  taxes  required  for  cities  and  towns  are  assessed 
upon  property  in  a  great  measure,  nevertheless  they  must  come  out  of 
the  gross  product  of  the  nation  ;  they  represent  work  of  some  sort,  and 
those  who  do  the  work,  of  whatever  kind,  contribute  to  these  taxes.  A 
tax  cannot  be  made  to  stay  where  it  is  put  ;  it  is  distributed  no  matter 
where  it  may  be  first  collected. 

All  profits,  all  taxes,  all  shares  of  the  product  represent  work  of 
some  kind,  whether  it  be  mental  or  mechanical  or  manual.  It  may  be 
work  in  which  capital  or  machinery  has  saved  labor  the  greater  part  of 
the  effort,  or  it  may  be  work  in  which  manual  labor  does  the  most  and 
machinery  the  least.  If  the  capitalist  cannot  demonstrate  his  right  to 
the  share  which  falls  to  him  by  proving  that  in  the  direction,  control, 
and  use  of  the  capital  which  he  owns  he  adds  to  the  gross  product 
more  than  he  takes  away  for  his  own  consumption  and  for  that  of  those 
who  depend  upon  him,  then  he  must  hold  his  capital  only  by  force 
rather  than  by  recognized  service.  If  taxes  cannot  be  justified  in  their 
expenditure,  they  cannot  be  justified  in  their  collection. 

If  the  possession  of  property  does  not  rest  upon  service  rather  than 
upon  force,  on  what  pretense  can  any  one  set  up  the  right  to  property  ? 
The  word  “  right  ”  cannot  cover  wrong.  Can  he  who  lives  on  others’ 
work,  or  who  takes  from  the  product  even  a  small  part  without  adding 
by  his  own  service  or  that  of  his  capital  more  than  he  takes  from  it,  jus¬ 
tify  his  existence  or  set  up  a  right  to  the  property  that  he  misuses,  no 
matter  how  legal  may  be  his  title  ? 

In  1880,  State,  city,  and  town  taxes  came  close  upon  twenty  dollars 
per  head  of  all  who  were  at  work — about  six  dollars  per  head  of  the 
population.  Assuming  that  sixty  dollars’  worth  of  the  product,  on  the 
average,  of  each  person  occupied  in  gainful  work  must  be  set  aside  to 
be  added  to  capital  by  some  one,  and  twenty  dollars’  worth  must  be 
set  aside  to  sustain  States,  cities,  and  towns,  in  order  that  society  may 
continue  to  exist — eighty  dollars’  worth  in  all  out  of  each  six  hundred 
dollars’  worth, — we  then  find  a  net  income,  on  the  average,  to  each  work¬ 
ing  man  or  woman  who  is  not  in  the  public  service  or  sustained  by  the 
taxes,  of  five  hundred  and  twenty  dollars  a  year  ;  or  rather,  what  five 
hundred  and  twenty  dollars  a  year  will  buy  for  their  own  consumption. 
Computing  three  hundred  working  days  in  the  year,  this  gross  sum  of 
six  hundred  dollars  yields  a  fraction  less  than  one  dollar  and  three  quar¬ 
ters  per  day — a  little  less  than  twelve  dollars  per  week,  or  fifty  dollars 
per  month, — and  if  out  of  this  sum,  or  of  what  this  sum  will  buy,  after 
setting  aside  ten  per  cent,  for  the  necessary  addition  to  capital  and  the 


202 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  ATation. 


local  taxes,  three  persons  must  be  subsisted,  sheltered,  and  clothed  three 
hundred  and  sixty-five  days  in  the  year,  the  measure  of  the  average  com¬ 
fort  and  welfare  is  only  about  what  forty-five  cents  a  day  will  buy  and  no 
more.  But  even  this  narrow  measure  of  subsistence  is  again  subject  to 
the  indirect  tax  of  the  nation.  The  national  revenues  being  chiefly  col¬ 
lected  by  taxing  articles  of  common  or  necessary  use,  are  paid  in  pro¬ 
portion  to  consumption  rather  than  in  proportion  to  income  or  ability. 
In  1880  and  since  then,  the  national  revenue  has  come  to  six  or  seven 
dollars  per  capita  each  year,  varying  somewhat  ;  or  from  eighteen  to 
twenty  dollars  a  year  upon  the  earnings  of  each  person  occupied  for 
gain  ;  leaving  a  net  revenue  of  five  hundred  dollars  a  year,  or  only  what 
less  than  forty-five  cents  per  day  will  buy  per  capita  for  personal  con¬ 
sumption.  How  much  food,  fuel,  clothing,  and  shelter  can  the  reader 
buy  for  forty-five  cents  a  day  ?  Would  it  not  be  well  to  answer  this 
question  before  what  may  be  miscalled  “the  claims  of  labor”  are 
wholly  ignored  ? 

There  is,  of  course,  room  for  error  in  this  computation  ;  but  an 
error  of  five  cents  a  day  per  person  now  comes  to  more  than  eleven 
hundred  million  dollars  a  year,  and  one  may  fairly  claim  that  such  a 
gross  error  could  hardly  be  made  by  a  careful  observer  or  compiler  of 
statistics.  In  any  event  I  think  it  may  be  assumed  that  our  annual 
product  at  the  present  standard  of  production,  when  sorted  and  divided 
under  present  methods  of  distribution,  and  subject  to  no  greater 
assessment  than  is  necessary  to  maintain  the  capital  of  the  nation  and 
to  meet  taxation  even  when  reduced  to  the  lowest  possible  limit,  can¬ 
not  yield  more  than  fifty  to  fifty-five  cents’  worth  of  the  necessaries  of 
life  per  day  for  the  personal  consumption  of  each  man,  woman,  and 
child  of  the  present  population,  after  allowing  for  any  possible  error. 
It  follows  of  necessity  that  by  so  much  as  some  enjoy  a  larger  portion 
than  this  must  some  others  have  less  ;  yet  this  is  the  most  productive 
country  in  the  world  in  ratio  to  its  population,  and  great  multitudes  are 
flocking  to  our  shores  to  take  part  even  in  this  measure  of  abundance. 


r 


Present  population,  about .  61,500,000 

Share  of  total  product  consumed  for  personal  use,  at  50  cents  per 

day  each . $11,200,000,000 

National  and  State  taxes,  about .  700,000,000 

Addition  to  capital,  computed  at  ten  per  cent.,  about .  1,300,000,000 

Gross  product .  $13,200,000,000 

This  would  be  about  $630  per  head  to  one  in  three  occupied  for 
gain.  In  order  to  increase  the  average  consumption  by  five  cents’ 
worth  a  day  to  each  person,  an  additional  product  of  the  value  of 
$1,122,000,000  a  year  must  be  made  ;  a  market  must  be  found  in  order 
that  this  product  may  be  converted  by  exchange  and  distributed  in 


The  Price  of  Life . 


203 


|erms  of  money.  Yet  we  have  heard  more  of  over-production  in  recent 
years  than  of  any  other  complaint  !  Would  not  under-consumption  be 
,a_niore  suitable  term  ? _ _ 

Now  let  any  reader  or  observer  pass  in  review  or  attempt  to  com¬ 
pute  the  number  of  people  about  whose  condition  he  himself  is  toler¬ 
ably  well  informed  in  the  community  in  which  he  lives,  and  he  will 
unquestionably  find  a  greater  number  of  men  and  women  who  are  en¬ 
gaged  in  getting  their  own  living  (to  say  nothing  of  children)  whose 
earnings  are  less  than  one  dollar  and  three-quarters  a  day,  than  he  will 
of  those  whose  earnings  are  more.  What  is  the  aspect  of  life  to  this 
vast  body,  constituting  a  majority  of  the  people  of  this  country,  who 
earn  less  than  one  dollar  and  three-quarters  per  day,  and  who  support 
themselves  and  two  others  on  such  an  income  ?  When  this  question  is 
brought  clearly  before  the  mind  the  true  “  labor  question  ”  begins  to 
declare  itself. 

What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it  ?  Is  it  not  a  question  which 
demands  the  attention  of  rich  and  poor  alike  in  a  democratic  country, 
where  the  power  of  legislation  rests  upon  the  votes  of  the  majority  ? 
What  do  those  to  whom  it  matters  little  whether  they  spend  twenty-five 
or  fifty  cents,  or  even  a  dollar  a  day,  per  capita,  for  the  food  only  of 
themselves  and  their  families,  really  know  about  the  problem  of  life  as 
it  is  presented  to  him  or  her  whose  food  costs  one  half  the  entire  income 
or  earnings,  and  who  must  find  not  only  food  but  a  dwelling-place, 
clothing,  and  all  the  necessaries  of  life  out  of  what  forty  or  fifty  cents 
a  day  will  buy  at  retail  prices  at  the  present  time  ?  What  do  people 
know  about  these  conditions  who  never  lacked  sufficient  clothing,  and 
who  possess  more  than  one  good  room  well  warmed  for  each  member  of 
their  families,  or  perhaps  two  or  three  good  houses  for  one  family  ? 

If  the  limit  of  all  that  is  produced  is  what  I  have  given,  or  whatever 
it  may  be,  whether  more  or  less,  it  is  the  source  of  all  wages,  earnings, 
profits,  rents,  interest,  and  taxes.  There  cannot  be  more  than  all  there 
is  to  be  distributed,  hence  it  follows  of  necessity  that  by  so  much  as 
some  have  more  of  the  comforts  and  luxuries  of  life,  must  others  have 
less.  Modern  society  exists  by  exchange.  Few  persons  take  any  part 
in  building  their  own  houses  or  in  furnishing  them  ;  few  do  any  thing 
more  than  a  small  part  of  the  work  of  making  their  own  clothing  ;  and 
aside  from  those  who  dwell  upon  farms,  hardly  any  persons  produce 
any  thing  which  they  consume  for  food.  There  are  only  three  methods 
of  distribution  yet  invented.  The  first  is  by  exchange  ;  the  second  is 
by  theft  or  fraud,  sometimes  within  the  forms  of  law  ;  and  the  third  is 
by  taxation.  These  three  ways  take  a  variety  of  forms.  How  can  the 
general  welfare  be  improved  except  by  increasing  the  product  of  labor 
and  finding  a  market  for  it,  or  by  doing  away  with  every  existing  method 
of  distribution  which  is  not  right  or  just  ? 


204  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 

There  are  certain  ethical  problems  which  may  come  into  view  to 
him  who  seeks  to  justify  his  own  greater  share  in  the  comforts  of  life. 
One  question  which  a  man  may  put  to  himself  might  be,  Does  the 
occupation  in  which  I  am  engaged  add  to  the  mass  of  products  which 
are  needed  for  general  consumption  more  than  is  taken  away  by  my 
own  consumption  or  by  those  among  whom  I  spend  my  earnings  ?  Or 
even  a  deeper  problem  may  sometimes  arise  of  an  ethical  nature  : 
Does  the  work  which  each  man  performs  come  within  the  line  of 
useful  service  ?  Does  it  add  to  the  stock  of  useful  products,  or  does  it 
fall  within  the  line  of  baneful  service  and  add  to  the  stock  of  harmful 
products  ?  Is  the  demand  for  which  this  man  provides  the  supply  of  a 
kind  which  adds  to  the  comfort  of  the  community  as  a  whole,  or  is  it 
one  which  tends  toward  want  rather  than  welfare  ?  By  the  answer  to 
these  questions  each  man  may  hereafter  be  judged  in  the  court  which 
supplements  the  treatment  of  economic  questions  by  the  study  of  ethics. 

Before  we  can  begin  to  answer  these  questions  in  a  satisfactory 
manner,  it  is  almost  a  matter  of  necessity  to  analyze  the  occupations  of 
the  people  of  this  country  as  they  now  are.  We  are  enabled  to  do  this 
with  great  confidence  in  the  accuracy  of  our  results,  because  the  same 
census  agents  who  counted  the  numbers  also  asked  what  every  one  did 
for  a  living.  Therefore,  under  the  head  of  occupations,  the  people  of 
this  country  who  worked  for  gain  were  classified  by  their  own  state¬ 
ments  under  separate  titles.  The  compilations  of  the  census  are  made 
under  four  general  titles,  to  wit  : 


Occupied  in  agriculture . 

“  professional  and  personal  service . 

“  manufactures,  mechanic  arts,  and  mining 
“  “  trade  and  transportation . 


7,670,493 
.  .  .  4,074,238 

•  3,837,112 

.  .C  1,810,256 


17,392,099 


Thus  the  proportion  of  the  whole  population  occupied  for  gain  was 
substantially  one  in  three  of  the  whole  number.  This  method  of 
sorting  is  not  wholly  satisfactory.  The  writer  has  therefore  made 
a  different  compilation  under  seven  titles,  as  follows  : 


How  occupied.  No.  in  Computed 

y  each  1000.  total  number. 

"Clergymen,  64,968  ;  lawyers, 
64,137  ;  physicians  and  sur¬ 
geons,  85,671  ;  teachers  and 
literary,  227,710  ;  journal¬ 
ists,  12,308  ;  scientists  and 
engineers,  8,126  ;  musicians, 
30,477  ;  officers  of  corpora¬ 
tions,  banks,  railroads,  in¬ 
surance,  etc.,  202,423. 


I.  Mental  work.  ...  40  696,000 


The  Price  of  Life. 


205 


How  occupied.  No.  in 

each  1000. 


2.  Mental  and  manual  60 


3- 


Automatic  ma¬ 
chinery  . 


100 


4- 


Mechanical  :  hand 
and  machine  tools. 


107 


5.  Manual .  131 

6.  Horse  and  hand  ) 

tools . . \  250 

7.  Chiefly  manual .  312 


Computed 
total  number. 


1,044,000 


1,740,000 


1,861,800 


2,279,400 


4,350,000 


5,420,899 


r 

'Merchants  and  traders,  481,- 
"  450  ;  hotel  keepers,  32,543  ; 
clerks,  salesmen,  commer- 
4  cial  travelers,  brokers,  and 
all  others  engaged  in  the 
purchase  and  sale  of  goods, 

:  521,898.  _ 

'  Collective  factory  work  :  tex¬ 
tiles,  printing,  and  bleach¬ 
ing,  500,000  ;  metals  and 
-  machinery,  300,000  ;  cloth¬ 
ing,  450,000  ;  boots,  shoes, 
and  hats,  210,000  ;  all  others 
280,000. 

'  Mechanical  not  collective  : 
carpenters  and  other  work¬ 
ers  in  wood,  500,000  ;  black¬ 
smiths,  172,726  ;  painters, 
128,556;  masons,  102,473; 
all  others,  958,045. 

'Service:  express,  railroad, 

telegraph  employes  (not 
laborers),  300,000  ;  domestic 
,  servants,  1, 075,65 5  ;  laun¬ 
dry,  122,000  ;  waiters,  200,- 
000  ;  draymen,  hackmen, 
etc.,  180,000  ;  all  others, 

.  39L345- 

j  Farmers,  herdsmen,  stock- 
l  breeders,  and  the  like, 

'  Laborers  on  farms,  3,323,876  ; 

laborers  not  specified,  prob- 
j  ably  in  part  on  farms,  1,857,- 
023  ;  miners,  240,000. 


1,000  17,392,099 

It  requires  but  little  experience  or  knowledge  of  the  general  condi¬ 
tions  of  men  to  determine  that  only  a  very  small  part  of  those  listed 
under  each  of  these  titles  are  or  can  be  men  of  wealth,  or  even  in 
possession  of  such  a  considerable  amount  of  property  as  to  make  their 
income  derived  from  property  the  larger  part  of  their  annual  resources. 
Moreover,  if  it  be  considered  that  there  is  a  certain  general  average  of 
income  with  respect  to  each  class  of  occupations,  one  may  reach 
a  reasonably  close  estimate  of  the  relative  conditions  or  proportions  of 
income  of  those  who  are  listed  under  each  title.  For  instance,  under 
Title  2  it  will  be  observed  that  more  than  half  are  in  the  position  of  the 
employed  rather  than  of  the  employer — clerks,  salesmen,  etc. — who 
seldom  make  large  earnings.  Under  Title  3,  those  who  work  upon 
metals  and  machinery  earn  the  highest  wages.  Those  occupied  in 
making  boots,  shoes,  and  hats  probably  come  next.  Skilled  labor  in 
the  clothing  trade  is  better  paid  or  earns  more  than  skilled  labor  in  the 
textile  factory,  while  common  labor  in  the  clothing  trade,  even  when 
paid  all  that  it  is  worth,  secures  very  small  earnings.  Under  Title  4, 


206  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 

mechanics — all  are  substantially  well-paid  workmen,  earning  more  than 
the  average  of  those  who  work  in  the  factories.  As  we  come  down  in 
the  list,  the  numbers  relatively  increase  of  those  who  spend  nearly  all 
that  they  earn  in  getting  a  living,  of  whom  very  few  possess  more 
property  than  a  deposit  in  a  savings  bank.  The  farmers  to  a  very  large 
extent  work  harder  than  their  hired  men,  and  few  become  rich. 
Lastly,  nearly  one  third  of  the  whole  number  listed  could  reply  to  the 
census  taker  only  that  they  were  laborers.  Is  this  wholly  creditable  to 
our  system  ? 

If,  then,  very  few  come  into  the  possession  of  any  considerable 
property,  while  a  larger  number,  but  yet  a  small  proportion  of  the 
whole,  attain  an  average  income  of  one  thousand  dollars  a  year,  by  far 
the  greater  proportion  living  of  necessity  on  less  than  $600  a  year  to 
each  three  persons,  what  can  be  done  about  it  ? 

If  from  the  earnings  of  every  man  gaining  by  his  work  more  than 
$r,ooo  a  year,  the  excess  were  taken  and  divided  equally  among  those 
who  earn  less,  the  game  would  not  be  worth  the  candle,  because 
the  gain  to  those  who  received  the  difference  would  be  but  a  trifle. 
The  addition  to  the  income  of  each  person  occupied  for  gain  would 
probably  not  be  equal  to  the  price  of  a  daily  glass  of  beer.  On 
the  other  hand,  if  this  excess  of  income  above  $1,000  a  year  were  taken 
from  those  who  now  enjoy  it,  to  be  distributed  unequally  among  the 
working  people,  then  the  same  disparity  of  condition  would  exist 
as  now,  or  even  a  greater.  What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it  ?  may  well 
be  the  question  put  to  the  reformer  who  in  his  own  judgment  can 
remove  all  the  inequalities  and  do  away  with  all  the  hardships  of  life  by 
acts  of  either  the  national  or  State  legislature.  The  way  to  meet  each 
and  all  of  the  theories  of  the  professional  agitators  or  sentimentalists 
who  propose  to  change  all  the  conditions  of  society  by  statute,  is 
to  bring  the  consideration  of  the  subject  within  a  limit  easily  compre¬ 
hended,  say  fifty  to  sixty  cents  a  day,  and  then  to  call  upon  each  class 
of  reformers  to  meet  the  conditions  as  they  now  are,  and  to  prepare  an 
act  of  legislation  by  which  better  general  conditions  may  be  assured. 
This  they  may  find  a  somewhat  difficult  matter.  In  subsequent  articles 
their  theories  will  be  subjected  to  this  test. 

The  days  of  dynasties  and  of  privileged  classes  are  numbered  ; 
emperors  and  kings,  dukes  and  lords,  have  become  superfluous  ;  feu¬ 
dal  rights,  which  could  perhaps  have  been  justified  in  the  past,  have 
become  the  feudal  wrongs  of  the  present  time.  Democracy  cares 
nothing  for  inherited  rank,  and  may  call  upon  every  man  to  justify  his 
present  condition  by  his  service,  under  the  coming  democratic  rule, 
not  only  in  this  but  in  many  other  countries.  The  Chinese  practice  of 
granting  titles  of  nobility  to  the  ancestors  of  him  who  now  serves  his 
country  well  may  be  approved  ;  but  no  title  gained  in  the  past,,  unless 


The  Price  of  Life. 


207 


sustained  by  its  representative  in  the  present  day  by  corresponding 
service,  will  long  be  tolerated  as  one  either  of  privilege,  honor,  or 
credit  to  him  who  bears  it.  Gunpowder  equalized  the  force  of  the 
seignior  and  the  serf  ;  Vanderbilt  became  the  great  communist  of  the 
time  when  he  reduced  the  cost  of  moving  a  year’s  supply  of  food  a 
thousand  miles  to  the  measure  of  a  day’s  wages  of  an  ordinary  me¬ 
chanic.  Yet  more  remains  to  be  done  before  the  mass  of  the  people 
even  in  the  United  States  can  be  said  to  live  well.  What  are  you 
going  to  do  about  it  ? 

In  this  series  of  articles,  and  in  articles  elsewhere  published 
dealing  with  the  same  facts  and  statistics,  the  writer  has  proved,  by 
arguments  which  no  one  has  yet  been  able  to  refute  or  to  gainsay, 
that  in  this  country,  which  is  no  longer  subject  to  the  inherited 
wrong  of  slavery,  in  which  birth  gives  no  privilege,  and  in  which  all 
have  or  may  have  equal  opportunity  to  attain  material  welfare,  the 
working  men  and  women  who  perform  that  part  of  the  work  of  pro¬ 
duction  which  is  either  manual  or  mechanical,  are  steadily  securing  to 
their  own  use  and  enjoyment  an  increasing  share  of  an  increasing 
product  ;  while  on  the  other  hand,  both  the  material  capital  which 
has  been  saved  in  a  concrete  form,  and  also  the  element  which  is  yet 
more  necessary  to  material  abundance,  the  capital  which  is  immaterial, 
i.  e .,  the  mental  factor  in  all  productions,  are  being  placed  at  the  ser¬ 
vice  of  those  who  do  the  primary  work  at  a  lessening  rate  of  compen¬ 
sation  or  profit.  Nevertheless,  when  all  Europe  is  a  prey  to  fears  of 
anarchy,  nihilism,  socialism,  and  communism,  and  when  it  seems  to  be 
as  impossible  for  the  standing  armies  and  national  debts  of  the  Conti¬ 
nent  to  be  sustained  as  for  the  armies  to  be  disbanded  or  the  debts 
repudiated  without  violent  revolution,  may  it  not  be  well  for  us  to  take 
an  inventory  of  our  resources  and  to  review  our  present  methods  of 
distribution,  lest  we  also  should  perhaps  be  called  upon,  again  and 
again,  to  apply  force  in  sustaining  rights  of  property  both  in  land  and 
capital,  which  need  no  force  for  their  defense  when  fully  compre¬ 
hended  and  justified  by  the  service  to  humanity  which  their  possession 
makes  their  owners  capable  of  rendering  in  ever-increasing  measure. 
May  not  the  harmony  of  interest  between  labor  and  capital  be  dis¬ 
closed  by  the  statistics  of  the  nation  to  every  one  who  can  read  what 
underlies  the  columns  and  is  written  between  the  lines  ?  May  it  not 
therefore  be  well  for  all  to  give  their  attention  to  what  are  indefinitely 
termed  the  “  claims  of  labor,”  lest  for  want  of  thought,  that  which  is 
right  should  be  misconstrued  and  assumed  to  be  wrong  by  those  whose 
narrow  or  monotonous  conditions  of  life  limit  the  scope  of  their 
thought  and  may  possibly  lead  them  to  misdirect  their  acts. 

The  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter  may  perhaps  be  brought  within 
the  mental  conception  of  any  one  who  believes  that  there  is  order  in 


208 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


the  universe,  and  that  there  is  an  over-ruling  power  that  makes  for 
righteousness.  The  lesson  which  we  learn  is  this  :  not  only  does 
enlightened  self-interest  coincide  with  or  lead  toward  moral  and  mate¬ 
rial  welfare,  but  even  unenlightened  self-interest,  as  represented  by  the 
mere  money-getter,  the  mere  capitalist,  or  by  the  man  who  has  himself 
no  knowledge  of  his  own  function,  yet  works  of  necessity  in  pro¬ 
moting  an  increased  product  and  a  reduction  in  the  cost  of  all  the 
necessaries  of  life,  under  which  conditions  the  great  mass  of  the 
community  cannot  fail  to  attain  better  conditions  of  welfare.  Great 
inventions,  which  were  first  applied  within  a  century,  tended  to  the 
concentration  of  great  masses  of  people  under  adverse  conditions  in 
the  cities,  and  also  to  the  diffusion  of  other  great  masses  of  people, 
occupied  in  farming,  over  wide  areas,  under  isolated  conditions  which 
were  not  conducive  to  the  best  kind  of  welfare.  The  application  of 
steam,  of  water  power,  and  of  gas  led  to  concentration  of  the  factory 
population.  The  introduction  of  the  railway  led  to  wide  diffusion  of 
the  farming  population  and  to  “  extensive  ”  methods  of  agriculture. 
These  applications  of  science  are  now  being  met  by  other  great  inven¬ 
tions,  the  tendency  of  which  is  in  the  reverse  of  what  has  occurred 
during  the  present  century.  The  application  of  electricity  to  the  pro¬ 
duction  of  speech  and  light,  to  the  development  of  power,  and  to  the 
operation  of  elevated  or  surface  railways  by  which  very  rapid  transit 
may  be  secured,  and  many  other  modern  methods  of  distribution,  are 
tending  to  diffuse  many  arts  heretofore  confined  to  the  centres  and 
crowded  parts  of  great  cities,  throughout  the  suburbs  and  adjoining 
towns,  where  broad,  low,  well-lighted,  and  well-ventilated  factories 
may  occupy  a  larger  area  of  ground,  and  where  the  factory  operatives 
may  live  under  very  much  better  conditions.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
adoption  of  the  silo,  and  what  are  called  the  “  intensive  ”  methods  of 
cultivation,  are  leading  to  the  breaking  up  of  large  farms  and  bringing 
the  people  who  are  engaged  in  agriculture  into  closer  communication 
with  one  enother.  All  these  new  forces  are  now  in  accord  with  the 
gregarious  habit  of  men,  and  without  overcrowding,  will  bring  about 
more  favorable  conditions  of  life,  while  promoting  an  increase  of 
product  at  a  much  less  cost  of  labor  than  ever  before,  with  correlative 
high  wages  and  low  prices.  Yet  the  motive  which  sets  all  these  new 
forces  in  action  is  the  self-interest  both  of  the  capitalist  and  of  the 
workman,  each  striving  to  attain  personal  welfare  only,  but  yet  pro¬ 
moting  the  public  welfare,  whether  conscious  or  unconscious  of  their 
true  functions  in  society. 

It  was  said  by  the  prophet  of  olden  time  that  “  The  Lord  maketh 
the  wrath  of  man  to  praise  him.”  It  might  be  said  by  the  prophet  of 

i  the  present,  that  the  Lord  maketh  the  selfishness  of  man  to  work  for 
the  material  welfare  of  his  kind. 

f 

1 


VII. 


AN  EASY  LESSON  IN  STATISTICS.1 

IN  this  and  in  articles  which  are  to  follow,  I  shall  endeavor  to  bring 
the  present  condition  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  into  a 
form  of  statement  which  will  enable  readers  to  understand  the 
bearing  of  many  questions  now  pending  to  whom  statistics  are  apt  to 
be  very  dry  and  uninteresting.  Persons  who  are  not  accustomed  to 
deal  with  figures  in  very  large  sums,  and  to  whom  the  incomprehen¬ 
sible  millions  of  our  national  book-keeping  carry  but  a  confused 
impression,  may  easily  comprehend  the  facts  on  which  all  fiscal  or 
financial  legislation  ought  to  be  based  when  the  large  sums  of  the 
national  accounts  are  reduced  to  the  quantities  and  values  of  a  corre¬ 
sponding  community  of  6,000  persons.  In  this  essay  I  have  assumed  the 
existence  of  a  community  of  6,000  souls  whose  conditions  as  regards 
occupations,  industries,  production,  division,  and  utilization  of  land, 
etc.,  are  as  nearly  as  may  be  identical  with  those  of  the  people  of  the 
Unifed'States  in  1880,  when  the  population  was  qo, 000, 000,  or  in  the 
present  year,  when  it  is  more  than  60,000,000.  I  have  made  use  only 
of  such  census  figures  as  I  believe  to  be  worthy  of  trust  or  which 
I  could  substantially  verify  myself.  Disregarding  fractions,  then,  the 
following  computations  relating  to  6,000  people  correspond  to  the 
figures  which  would  apply  to  the  present  population  of  the  country, 
assuming  that  no  material  change  has  occurred  since  the  census  of 
1880  in  their  relative  occupations  and  production.  The  figures  of 
foreign  commerce  have  not  held  quite  the  same  proportions,  but  in 
other  matters  of  production  and  distribution  there  has  probably  been 
but  little  change. 

I  assume  a  typical  township  which  covers  300  square  miles.  It  is 
about  25  miles  long  east  and  west,  and  12  miles  wide  north  and  south. 
It  comprises  192,000  acres  of  land,  of  which  about  one  half,  or  96,000 
acres,  is  good  arable  land  ;  the  rest  is  about  equally  divided  between 
pasture,  mountain,  and  forest.  A  little  over  twenty  per  cent,  of  the 
arable  land,  about  30  square  miles,  or  20,000  acres  is  under  the  plow. 
Within  this  area  of  300  square  miles  there  are  6,000  people,  of  whom 
2,000  (1,700  males  and  300  females,  including  35  boys  and  14  girls  of 
15  years  or  under)  are  occupied  for  gain,  or  are  doing  something  by 
which  they  may  get  a  living  for  themselves,  each  one  on  the  average 

1  Reprinted  from  the  Forum. 

209 


14 


2  IO 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


supporting  two  others,  either  in  farming,  manufacturing,  mining,, 
or  trading,  or  in  professional  or  personal  services.  The  2,000  who 
are  occupied  for  gain  are  occupied  substantially  as  follows  :  870  as 
farmers  (490)  and  farm  laborers  (380),  doing  their  work  in  part  by 
machinery,  mainly  by  the  use  of  tools  and  implements  driven  by  horse 
or  manual  power  ;  226  occupied  in  personal  service — servants,  dray¬ 
men,  hackmen,  and  the  like — doing  their  work  mainly  by  hand  ;  224 
laborers  not  on  farms — hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water,  diggers, 
and  delvers  ;  214  mechanics  or  artisans,  working  where  the  work  is 
to  be  done  individually  rather  than  collectively,  and  operating  tools 
rather  than  machinery  ;  200  occupied  in  the  collective  work  of  the 
factory,  operating  machinery  rather  than  using  tools ;  36  employed 
upon  railways — engineers,  firemen,  and  the  like — omitting  common 
laborers  ;  30  miners  ;  200  persons  engaged  in  mental  rather  than  in 
manual  or  mechanical  industry,  using  their  heads  rather  than  their 
hands — clergymen,  lawyers,  doctors,  literary  persons,  heads  of  corpora¬ 
tions,  merchants,  traders,  and  the  like. 

«  The  study  of  the  occupations  of  the  people  may  enable  one  to 
make  a  better  estimate  of  their  average  income  or  product  than  any 
figures  which  can  be  compiled  in  a  census  ;  therefore  it  may  be  useful 


to  make  even  a  closer  subdivision  of  these  pursuits  : 

Occupied  in  agriculture  : 

Farmers .  500 

Farm  laborers . ' .  370 

-  870 

Occupied  in  personal  service  : 

Hotel  keepers .  4 

Domestic  servants,  waiters,  laundresses,  coachmen,  and  the 
like .  158 

I 

Draymen  and  hackmen . 20 

Others,  including  mariners  and  police .  44 

-  226 

Common  laborers .  224 

Occupied  in  the  mechanic  arts  :  * 

Carpenters,  wheelwrights,  lumbermen,  and  other  men  who 

work  in  wood .  56 

Blacksmiths  . . 20 

Painters .  14 

Masons .  12 

All  other  mechanics . 112 

-  214 

Occupied  in  the  collective  or  factory  system : 

Workers  in  textile  factories .  60 

Metal  workers  in  blast  furnaces,  smelting  shops,  machine- 

shops,  and  the  like,  worked  on  the  factory  principle .  36 

Clothiers,  tailors,  and  tailoresses .  50 

Boot- and  shoe-makers  and  hatters .  24 

All  other  people  who  work  in  the  factory  rather  than  out-of- 
doors  .  30 


200 


An  Easy  Lesson  in  Statistics.  2 1 1 

Occupied  on  railways,  omitting  common  laborers  : 

Railway  engineers,  conductors,  firemen,  and  brakemen.. ....  36 

Miners .  30 

Occupied  in  mental  work  : 

Clergymen .  7  to  8 

Lawyers .  7  to  8 

Doctors. .  7  to  10 

Professors,  teachers,  musicians,  and  literary  people .  30 

Presidents  of  corporations,  banks,  railways,  insurance  com¬ 
panies,  and  the  like .  24 

Merchants  and  traders .  56 

Clerks,  salesmen,  saleswomen,  and  book-keepers .  64 

-  200 


This  classification  by  occupations  is  not  an  absolutely  correct 
one,  but  it  suffices  for  the  general  purpose  of  indicating  the  con¬ 
dition  of  the  people.  In  former  times,  before  the  adoption  of  the 
factory  system,  each  little  community  was  to  a  large  extent  self-sus¬ 
taining.  The  material  for  garments  was  spun  and  woven  in  the  house¬ 
hold.  The  farmer  was  a  mechanic  and  almost  of  necessity  a  jack-of- 
all-trades,  while  the  mechanic  was  apt  to  do  a  little  farming.  The 
local  tailor  and  tailoress  made  the  clothes.  The  work  of  each  given 
community  was  much  less  subdivided  individually  than  it  has  been 
since.  Later  came  the  substitution  of  the  factory  system  for  making 
cloth,  the  farmers’  daughters  leaving  the  farm  and  finding  occupation 
in  the  factory.  Then  followed  the  wholesale  clothier,  and  the  local 
tailor  as  a  maker  of  garments  almost  disappeared. 

But  another  phase  of  the  distribution  of  work  results  from  the 
reduction  in  railway  charges.  The  railway  system,  by  reducing  the 
cost  of  moving  goods  to  a  fraction  of  a  cent  per  ton  a  mile,  practically 
converts  a  wide  area  into  a  close  neighborhood.  Hence  there  has  been 
a  considerable  measure  of  household  manufacture  again  introduced 
among  farmers,  but  under  wholly  new  conditions.  The  sewing- 
machine  has  become  a  necessary  household  implement,  and  the  knit¬ 
ting-machine,  sometimes  owned  in  the  farmers’  families,  but  more  often 
owned  by  a  manufacturer  of  knit-goods,  is  widely  distributed  through¬ 
out  the  farmers’  households  of  the  eastern  part  of  the  country.  The 
materials  for  ready-made  clothing  are  cut  at  the  manufacturing  centres 
in  the  cities  by  the  great  clothiers,  sorted,  and  put  up  in  parcels  with 
the  thread,  linings,  and  buttons  ;  or  the  worsted  and  woollen  yarns  are 
made  up  in  packages  with  directions  for  their  use.  These  materials  are 
then  distributed  throughout  the  farmers’ families  in  the  Eastern  States, 
to  be  made  up  into  garments  or  worked  into  hosiery  and  knit-goods, 
sent  back  to  the  cities  to  be  pressed  and  finished,  and  then  distributed 
for  sale.  Thus  there  is  a  considerable  amount  of  manufacturing  car¬ 
ried  on,  especially  by  the  women  of  the  farmers’  families,  which  does 


212 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


not  appear  in  the  census  returns,  and  the  women  thus  partly  occupied 
do  not  appear  in  the  list  of  those  who  are  occupied  for  gain.  The  in¬ 
come  for  such  work  is  small  in  each  individual  case,  but  it  adds  in  the 
aggregate  a  large  element  of  comfort  and  welfare  to  those  whose  every¬ 
day  work  is  that  of  doing  the  household  and  dairy  work  among  the 
agricultural  population  of  the  country.  In  the  mountain  section  of  the 
South,  again,  the  old  conditions  of  small  self-sustaining  communities 
still  survive,  but  are  rapidly  disappearing.  The  people  are  clad  in 
homespun,  while  the  log-house  and  most  of  its  contents  are  the  prod¬ 
ucts  of  the  handicrafts  of  the  people. 

We  will  assume  that  the  typical  community  is  situated  upon  land  in 
the  northern  rather  than  in  the  southern  section  of  the  country,  and 
that  the  people  are  a  little  better  off  in  personal  wealth  than  the  aver¬ 
age  of  the  whole  country.  It  may  be  assumed  that  they  dwell  in  some 
part  of  Ohio,  in  which  State  the  occupations  of  the  people  correspond 
very  nearly  in  their  proportions  to  the  average  of  the  whole  country. 
The  present  value  of  all  the  land  with  all  the  improvements  thereon, 
including  railways,  factories,  machine-shops,  dwelling-houses,  public 
buildings,  schools  or  colleges,  and  goods  and  wares  of  every  descrip¬ 
tion  belonging  to  this  community  of  6,000  persons,  averages  less  than 
$r,ooo  per  head,  and  amounts  in  the  aggregate  to  between  five  and  six 
million  dollars.  This  property  is  divided  very  unequally.  The  exact 
proportion  of  those  who  own  some  part  of  the  land  cannot  be  given  with 
any  positive  accuracy.  Trom  two  fifths  up  to  one  half  of  the  total 
valuation  consists  of  the  estimated  value  of  the  land  ;  from  three  fifths 
down  to  one  half  consists  in  the  value  of  the  improvements  upon  it. 
The  data  of  accumulated  wealth  are  somewhat  uncertain,  and  the 
census  estimates  have  been  computed  at  different  periods  on  such  dif¬ 
ferent  methods  as  to  be  almost  worthless  for  purposes  of  comparison. 
The  property  assigned  to  this  typical  community  is  probably  a  third 
above  the  average  of  the  whole  country.  The  value  of  all  these  im¬ 
provements  or  capital  of  the  community,  consisting  of  railways,  fac¬ 
tories,  workshops,  machinery,  tools,  dwelling-houses,  and  public  build¬ 
ings,  also  goods  and  wares  of  every  kind,  does  not  exceed  $600  worth 
per  head  of  the  population,  and  is  probably  somewhat  less. 

The  average  value  of  the  annual  product  is  about  $200  per  head, 
or  $600  to  each  person  occupied  for  gain.  The  capital  of  this  com¬ 
munity,  in  ratio  to  its  production,  is  therefore  equal  to  that  of  the  rich¬ 
est  State  in  the  Union.  In  other  words,  the  whole  capital  of  the  com¬ 
munity  which  has  been  placed  upon  the  land  is  only  equal  to  three 
years’  product,  even  in  the  richest  and  most  prosperous  parts  of  the 
country.  The  value  of  the  annual  product  of  this  community  at  $200 
worth  per  head  of  the  population,  or  computed  at  $600  worth  as  the 
average  of  each  person  occupied  for  gain,  comes  to  $1,200,000  a  year, 


An  Easy  Lesson  in  Statistics. 


213 


including  what  is  consumed  by  farmers  and  their  families  upon  the 
farms.  In  this  gross  value  of  all  that  is  produced,  salable  farm  prod¬ 
ucts,  rated  at  the  farm  before  being  moved  away,  come  to  $435,000. 
Assuming  that  each  member  of  the  families  of  the  farmers  consumes 
about  $33  worth  of  the  product  of  the  farm  at  home,  the  value  of  the 
domestic  consumption  of  the  farmers  comes  to  $87,000.  The  yield  of 
minerals  of  all  kinds,  coal,  oil,  iron,  lead,  copper,  gold,  silver,  etc., 
comes  to  $50,000.  The  yield  of  the  forests  is  $80,000.  The  value 
added  to  the  crude  products  of  the  farm,  the  forest,  and  the  mine,  by 
manufacturers,  mechanics,  and  others,  together  with  the  charges  for 
exchange  and  the  cost  for  conversion  and  re-conversion  into  a  con- 
sumable  form,  together  with  the  product  of  the  fisheries,  comes  to 


$548,000. 

SUMMARY. 

Primary  value  of  the  salable  products  of  the  farm . $435,000 

Farm  consumption .  87,000 

Product  of  the  forest .  80,000 

Product  of  the  mines .  50,000 

.Added  in  the  process  of  manufacturing  and  for  the  cost  of  distribution .  548,00^^^  ^ 

Total . $1,200,000 


It  will  be  observed  that,  setting  aside  the  sum  assigned  to  home 
consumption  on  farms,  the  work  of  the  country  is  about  equally  divided 
in  value.  The  crude  products  of  the  farm,  the  forest,  and  the  mine 
come  to  $565,000.  The  volume  added  in  the  process  of  manufactur¬ 
ing  or  distributing — of  conversion  and  of  re-conversion  to  final  use  or 
consumption — comes  to  $548,000. 

It  is  a  curious  thought  that  all  this  huge  value  of  traffic,  production, 
distribution,  and  conversion  has  for  its  end  and  objective  point  the 
supply  of  each  inhabitant  with  a  few  feet  of  boards  over  his  head,  sus¬ 
tained  by  bricks  or  timber  ;  about  ten  pounds  of  wool  and  sixteen 
pounds  of  cotton  converted  into  clothing,  a  barrel  of  flour,  and  two  or 
three  hundred  pounds  of  meat  each  year,  and  a  little  sugar,  a  glass  of 
beer,  and  about  five  pounds  of  solid  or  liquid  food  per  day,  these  con¬ 
stituting  the  necessaries  of  life.  Some  one  has  said  that  life  would  not 
be  worth  living  except  for  its  luxuries,  and  that  time  would  not  be 
worth  having  except  for  the  hours  that  could  be  saved  for  leisure. 
How  much  of  luxury  and  how  much  of  leisure  can  the  average  man 
get  out  of  what  fifty  to  fifty-five  cents  a  day  will  buy  for  his  shelter, 
food,  and  clothing  ? 

It  will  be  observed  that  870  farmers  and  farm  laborers  were  occu¬ 
pied  in  the  production  of  grain,  meat,  butter,  and  cheese,  vegetables, 
fibres,  and  fruit.  This  group  produced  more  food  than  the  6,000 
people  in  this  community  could  consume,  all  having  enough  and  much 
being  wasted.  They  also  produced  more  cotton  than  could  be  spun 


2 1 4  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 

\ 

or  worn,  but  not  enough  wool.  The  miners  produced  more  copper 
and  silver  than  could  be  used  and  more  oil  than  could  be  burned,  but 
not  enough  iron.  Some  of  the  manufacturers  produced  more  goods 
than  this  community  required.  Hence  it  followed  that,  at  the  ratio  of 
1880,  $100,000  worth  of  various  commodities  was  sold  for  export  to 
foreign  countries.  Of  the  exports,  $84,000  worth  consisted  of  the 
products  of  agriculture  ;  $16,000  worth  consisted  of  cotton  goods, 
manufactures  of  metal,  tools,  and  implements,  oil,  manufactured 
tobacco,  and  the  like.  These  figures  are  now  somewhat  changed  ;  the 
export  of  farm  products  is  less,  of  manufactures  more.  This  export 
corresponded  to  the  work  of  150  to  160  farmers  and  farm  laborers, 
and  30  to  40  manufacturers,  mechanics,  and  miners  ;  180  to  200  in  all. 
It  consisted  of  a  part  of  the  product  of  a  much  greater  number,  but  in 
proportion  to  the  total  the  exports  of  the  United  States  represent  the 
work  of  about  ten  per  cent,  of  all  who  are  engaged  in  any  industry  which 
is  directly  productive.  In  exchange  for  this  $100,000  worth  of  goods 
exported,  this  community  imported  from  other  countries  at  the  ratio  of 
1880,  $75,000  worth  of  goods,  and  $25,000  worth  of  gold  or  government 
bonds  brought  home.  The  imports  consisted  of  the  following  articles  : 


Yearly  Imports. 

Sugar  and  molasses . 

$9,500 

Per  Capita  Each  Year. 

$1.58 

Coffee . 

7,200 

1.20 

Tea . 

2,400 

.40 

Breadstuffs . 

1,100 

.18 

Fruits  and  nuts . 

Animals,  fish,  drugs,  dyestuffs, 

1,500 

.25 

and  other  necessary  articles 
which  are  free  of  duty . 

15,400. . . . 

. ..  37,ioo 

2.56 

Chemicals . 

1,800 

A  • 

.30 

Flax,  hemp,  jute,  and  sisal  grass 
Iron  and  steel,  and  manu- 

1,100 

% 

.18 

factures . 

5,400 

.90 

Hides,  leather,  and  goods . 

1,400 

•23 

Tin  and  tin  plates . 

2,000 

•33 

Raw  wool . 

2,000. .  . . 

. ..  13,700 

50,800 

•  33 

Manufactures  of 

Cotton . 

3,300 

•55 

Wool . 

3,800 

.63 

Flax . 

2,800 

•47 

Silk . 

3,800 

.64 

Earthenware . 

600 

.10 

Glass . 

600 .... 

.10 

Fancy  goods . 

600 

.10 

Spirits  and  wines . 

900 

•  15 

Tobacco  and  cigars . 

800. . . . 

. . .  2,300 

•  13 

Sundries . 

7,000 

24,200 

1. 19 

$75,ooo 

$12.50 

An  Easy  Lesson  in  Statistics. 


2  1 5 


It  will  be  observed  that  the  imports  from  other  countries  consist  to 
the  extent  of  one  half  of  articles  of  food,  which  are  articles  either  of 
necessity  or  of  common  comfort.  Adding  to  these  the  crude  or  partly 
manufactured  articles  which  are  necessary  to  the  conduct  of  domestic 
industry,  the  proportion  of  this  class  of  import's  comes  to  two  thirds  of 
the  whole.  That  part  which  could  be  spared,  if  we  could  not  afford  to  • 
pay  for  it  with  the  excess  of  our  grain,  cotton,  and  oil,  comes  to  only 
one  third  of  the  total  import ;  and  that  part  which  may  be  rightly  put 
under  the  head  of  luxuries  is  but  a  tithe  of  the  whole. 

Since  1880  exports  have  proportionately  diminished,  but  imports 
have  ratably  increased  about  in  ratio  to  population,  and  the  above  are 
about  the  relative  values  of  goods  now  imported.  The  individual 
consumption  of  imported  goods  is  now  about  $12.50  per  head,  on 
which  the  duties  come  to  a  little  less  than  $4.00  ;  in  round  figures, 
$16.00  per  head  duty  paid.  The  exports  are  now  about  equal  in 
declared  value  to  the  imports  without  the  addition  of  duties.  As  the 
sum  of  imports  did  not  balance  the  export  in  1880,  the  remainder  was 
paid  for  in  gold  or  bonds.  These  imports  were  taxed  at  the  custom¬ 
house  $24,000,  or  $4.00  per  head  of  6,000  people. 

It  will  thus  appear  that  about  18  per  cent,  of  the  people  occupied 
in  agriculture  in  1880  depended  upo.u,  .a  forciiai  market  for  the  sale  of 
their  product,  to  whom  were  added  a  few  manufacturers  and  mechanics 
whose  goods  were  sold  for  export. _ The  export  of  food  and  fibres  rep¬ 

resented  18  per  cent,  of  the  products  of  the  farm,  to  which  manufac¬ 
tures  being  added,  the  whole  export  stood  for  8  to  10  per  cent,  of  the 
work  done  by  all  who  were  occupied  for  gain.  The  import  consisted 
mainly  of  articles  of  food  or  of  articles  in  a  crude  or  partly  manufac¬ 
tured  condition  necessary  to  the  work  of  the  domestic  manufacturers  ; 
a  small  part  only  consisted  of  articles  which  could  be  spared,  or  which 
might  under  other  conditions  have  been  made  within  the  limit  of  the 
community  itself  and  by  its  own  people. 

It  is  admitted  that  a  part  of  this  product  of  $1,200,000  worth  is 
distributed  in  payment  for  rent  of  land,  to  owners  in  whose  possession 
all  the  occupied  land  now  is.  There  is  still  a  large  area  of  unoccupied 
land,  but  it  is  not  yet  available  for  use  and  may  not  be  occupied  for  a 
long  time  to  come.  It  is  admitted  that  another  considerable  part  of 
this  product  of  $1,200,000  worth  a  year  is  distributed  in  the  form  of 
interest  on  bonds  and  mortgages,  these  evidences  of  indebtedness 
belonging  to  the  few  rather  than  to  the  many.  Still  another  part  of 
this  product  is  distributed  in  the  form  of  profits,  and  falls  to  the 
owners  of  the  railways,  factories,  and  other  instruments  of  production 
constituting  the  capital  of  the  country,  in  greater  or  less  proportion 
according  to  the  measure  of  service  which  they  render  to  the  com¬ 
munity.  Another  part  is  distributed  in  the  form  of  fees  or  salaries 
among  professional  persons,  musicians,  literary  people,  and  the  like. 


! 


2  I  6 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


Lastly,  the  greater  part  of  the  product  is  distributed  in  the  form  of 
earnings  of  wages  among  those  who  do  the  primary  or  mechanical  work 
of  production  and  distribution.  Such  being  the  measure  of  the  whole 
product,  by  so  much  as  some  have  a  greater  share  must  others  enjoy 
less.  If  the  whole  sum  of  $r, 200,000  worth  were  equally  distributed, 
it  would  not  even  then  suffice  to  meet  a  very  high  standard  of  general 
comfort  and  welfare  ;  it  would  come  only  to  55  cents’  worth  a  day  to 
each  person.  This  is  a  large  estimate  if  all  were  consumed  in  even 
portions.  The  whole  work  of  production  would  still  be  substantially 
as  great  as  it  is  now,  and  would  not  admit  of  any  considerable  amount 
of  leisure  on  the  part  of  the  whole  body  of  persons  occupied  for  gain. 
There  would  be  little  relief  in  the  hard  work  of  getting  a  living.  But, 
unless  some  part  of  this  product  of  $1,200,000  worth  of  all  kinds  of 
goods  and  wares  is  saved  and  added  to  the  capital  of  the  community 
by  some  one,  it  matters  not  by  whom,  the  next  generation  will  suffer 
for  want  of  capital.  A  considerable  part  of  the  product  is  wasted 
through  ignorance  or  vice,  while  only  a  small  part  is  wasted  in  luxurious 
living.  “  Mankind  is  as  lazy  as  it  dares  to  be,”  even  now. 

In  fact,  that  part  of  the  product  which  may  be  added  to  the  capital 
of  the  community  must  itself  be  consumed  in  the  process  of  repro¬ 
duction  or  conversion  into  capital  ;  therefore  the  workmen  who  con¬ 
struct  the  railways,  mills,  works,  and  the  like,  in  which  the  savings  of 
the  community  are  invested,  get  their  subsistence,  clothing,  and  shelter 
from  what  is  paid  them  in  doing  this  work.  The  object  and  end  of  all 
production  is,  therefore,  in  the  first  instance,  complete  consumption, 
the  greater  part  of  the  product  being  consumed  without  specific  repro¬ 
duction  in  the  form  of  capital,  the  smaller  part  being  consumed  in  the 
process  of  conversion  into  capital.  Even  that  part  of  the  product 
which  is  consumed  in  the  more  or  Jess  luxurious  living  of  the  prosper¬ 
ous  is  not  wholly  consumed  by  themselves.  They  may  waste  a  part 
of  their  income  or  devote  it  to  purposes  which  are  not  reproductive 
and  are  not  necessary  to  comfort  and  welfare,  such  as  the  construction 
of  palatial  dwellings,  the  making  of  pianos,  the  laying  out  of  fine 
places,  the  building  of  yachts,  and  the  like  ;  yet  even  in  this  expendi¬ 
ture  the  workmen  who  do  the  work  obtain  their  subsistence  in  return. 
No  man  lives  to  himself  alone  even  in  a  material  sense,  and  each  one 
costs  the  community  only  what  he  and  those  dependent  directly  upon 
him  consume  on  their  own  persons.  What  he  spends  stands  for  the 
subsistence  of  other  persons.  The  rich  man  or  the  capitalist  merely 
gives  a  different  direction  to  the  consumption  of  that  part  of  the 
annual  product  which  comes  under  his  control  from  what  it  might 
otherwise  have  taken.  It  may  be  neither  the  most  useful  direction,  the 
wisest,  nor  the  best ;  it  may  even  be  wasteful  ;  but  even  such  methods 
of  expenditure  cannot  be  changed  without  altering  the  conditions  of 


An  Easy  Lesson  in  Statistics.  2  1  7 

life  and  taking  away  the  incomes  of  many  of  the  workingmen,  among 
whom  the  rich  man  expends  his  wealth.  Liquor  and  tobacco  are 
computed  to  cost  consumers  $75,000  to  $100,000  a  year  in  each  average 
community  of  6,000  persons.  But  if  each  producer  or  distributer  of 
these  articles  averages  the  same  income  as  in  the  other  occupations — 
to  wit,  $600  each — then  125  to  167  men  supporting  375  to  500  in  each 
average  community  of  6,000  people,  or  1,250,000  to  1,650,000  men 
supporting  3,500,000  to  5,000,000  men,  women,  and  children  in  the 
whole  country,  now  depend  on  the  production  and  sale  of  liquor  and 
tobacco  for  the  means  with  which  to  buy  their  own  food,  fuel,  clothing, 
and  shelter.  If  the  production  and  sale  of  liquor  should  be  stopped 
they  must  find  other  work.  Under  the  present  distribution  of  occupa¬ 
tions  and  of  products,  does  any  one  actually  suffer  because  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  the  necessaries  of  life  is  not  produced  ?  So  long  as  no  one 
suffers  for  lack  of  land  or  for  want  of  opportunity  to  work  for  a  living 
in  consequence  of  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  may  not  the  true  remedy 
for  want  consist  in  the  ignorant  rich  learning  how  to  spend  or  direct 
the  material  force  which  comes  within  their  control  in  a  better  way  ; 
and  in  the  ignorant  poor  learning  either  how  to  spend  or  to  save  the 
force  which  comes  within  their  control  in  a  way  that  will  give  them 
better  results  ?  The  waste  of  the  many  poor  costs  the  community  in 
the  aggregate  far  more  than  the  waste  of  the  few  rich.  True  progress 
may  consist  not  in  taking  away  from  any,  but  in  adding  to  the  produc¬ 
tion  of  all,  especially  of  the  means  for  shelter. 

It  may  well  be  remembered  that  die  science  of  distribution  is  as  yet 
but  little  comprehended,  while  production  in  ample  measure  is  abso¬ 
lutely  assured.  It  is  less  than  a  century  since  even  the  English-speak¬ 
ing  people  began  to  learn  the  very  alphabet  of  commerce  ;  has  that 
part  of  the  English-speaking  people  who  occupy  this  country  yet  learned 
how  to  spell  words  of  more  than  one  syllable  in  putting  together  the 
letters  of  this  alphabet?  They  have  learned  that  trade  among  them- 
selves  has  become  profitable  to  all  just  so  far  as  it  is  free  from  ob- 
struction  ;  have  they  yet  to  learn  that  trade  with  other  nations  may  be 
as  profitable  when  free  from  obstruction  ?  Have  they  not  yet  to  learn  that 
the  nation  in  which  the  wages  or  earnings  of  workmen  are  the  highest, 
because  they  make  their  products  under  the  best  conditions  and  there¬ 
fore  at  the  lowest  cost,  can  also  gain  the  largest  profits  and  earn  the 
highest  wages  from  the  widest  international  commerce  ? 

We  sell  to  China  coarse  cotton  goods  made  by  weavers  who  earn  a 
dollar  a  day  ;  yet  four  fifths  at  least  of  the  people  of  China  are  clothed 
in  coarse  cotton  goods  woven  on  hand-looms  on  which  the  weavers 
cannot  earn  more  than  ten  cents  a  day.  They  pay  us  in  tea  produced 
and  prepared  at  wages  of  ten  cents  a  day,  which  we  could  not  afford  to 
grow  at  wages  of  one  dollar  a  day,  even  if  it  would  grow  in  this  coun- 


2  1 8  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 

try,  because  we  cannot  spare  the  time  for  that  kind  of  hand-work.  We 
sell  flour  produced  at  wages  four  times  as  high  as  they  are  in  Belgium, 
in  competition  with  the  tillers  of  small  fields  in  that  country,  to  which 
machinery  cannot  well  be  applied.  We  take  our  pay  in  part  in  high- 
priced  Brussels  lace,  made  by  women  who  work  for  the  lowest  wages 
and  under  the  worst  conditions  of  almost  any  people  in  Europe.  If 
we  want  the  lace  we  could  ill  afford  to  make  it  under  such  conditions. 

In  the  community  of  6,000  people  which  I  have  taken  as  an  example 
there  may  be  a  few  paupers,  mostly  foreign-born  ;  but  no  one  in  this 
community  is  allowed  to  suffer  for  want  of  the  absolute  necessaries  of 
life,  except  through  oversight  or  accident. 

I  have  given  the  probable  average  product  of  each  person  occupied 
for  gain  at  $600  worth  per  year.  This  yields,  disregarding  fractions, 
what  fifty-five  cents  a  day  will  buy  in  the  form  of  food,  fuel,  shelter, 
clothing,  and  sundries  for  each  man,  woman,  and  child  ;  so  close  does 
want  tread  upon  the  heels  of  plenty.  This  is  in  fact  a  large  estimate. 
There  are  a  great  many  more  people  whose  product  is  less  than  fifty 
cents’  worth  a  day  each  for  themsel\*es  and  those  dependent  upon 
them,  than  of  those  who  earn  more  ;  yet  this  is  the  richest,  most 
productive,  and  most  prosperous  country  in  the  world. 


VIII. 


REFORMS  THAT  DO  NOT  REFORM.1 

ASSUMING  the  conditions  of  an  average  community  of  6,000 
people  to  be  substantially  as  stated  in  the  last  number, _we  find 
'Hyuf  ThTee  ways  of  improving  them,  namely  :  (First;  bv  increasing 
the  quantity  of  the  product,  and  finding  a  market  forme  increase,  in  or- 
der  that  it  may  be  converted  into  money  and  distribut_ed.,C  Secondly,  by 
changing  the  present  methods  of  distribution  of  that  which  is  now  pro¬ 
duced!  without  increasing  the  quantity  :  that  is,  by  finding  a  way  by 
which  those  who  have  not  quite  enough  for  comfort  and  welfare  may 
rightfully  secure  a  share  of  that  which  is  wastefully-consumed  by  those 
who  have  too  much  or  who  spend  unwiselv(^  Thirdly  by  improving 
the  mode  of  using  what  is  now  produced,  withouT' increasing  the 
quantity  or  materially  altering  the  present  method  of  distribution,  so 

that  it  will  yield  a  better  subsistence„tQ__alL _ 

What  is  now  somewhat  indefinitely  called  the  “  labor  question  ” 
must  of  necessity  consist  in  solving  one  or  all  of  these  three  problems. 
What  other  way  is  there  to  improve  the  conditions  of  the  community  ? 
If  all  that  is  produced  by  each  average  community  of  6,oco  people 
comes  within  the  limit  of  what  will  sell  for  $1,200,000,  or  what  that 
sum  will  buy  at  present  prices,  surely  that  fund  constitutes  the  source 
of  all  earnings,  wages,  rents,  profits,  and  taxes.  We  can  consume  no 
more  unless  we  can  re-convert  into  food,  fuel,  and  clothing  a  part  or 
all  of  the  capital  of  the  country  which  has  been  saved  in  our  two  hun¬ 
dred  years  or  more  of  existence,  amounting  to  less  than  three  years’ 
product,  the  whole  of  which,  if  consumed,  would  save  us  only  two  or 
three  years’  work  and  serve  us  only  until  it  was  exhausted.  What 
should  we  do  then?  We  cannot  have  more  than  all  there  is  ;  therefore 
the  limit  of  all  that  is  produced  must  be  regarded  in  all  plans  of  social 
reform  by  all  alike.  This  fact  must  be  considered  by  the  anarchist,  the 
socialist,  the  communist,  the  advocate  of  the  single  tax  on  land,  the 
representative  of  the  Anti-Poverty  Society,  the  wage-earner,  the  co- 
operator,  the  knight  of  labor,  the  profit-sharer,  the  free-trader,  the 
protectionist,  the  eight-hour  advocate,  the  advocate  of  fiat  money,  the 

1  Reprinted  from  the  Forum. 

219 


220 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


mono-metallist,  and  the  bi-metallist.  The  theories  of  all  these  doctors- 
of  social  philosophy — quacks,  or  regular  practitioners — must  deal 
either  with  what  is  now  produced  or  else  with  plans  and  methods  by 
which  the  gross  product  can  be  increased  and  more  equitably  dis¬ 
tributed.  The  question  in  plain  prose  is,  How  much  can  you  add  to 
fifty  cents’  worth  a  day  ? 

If,  then,  the  average  product  at  retail  prices  is  what  I  have  estimated, 
to  wit,  not  exceeding  fifty  cents’  worth  per  day  for  each  person,  from 
which  sum  all  profits,  wages,  earnings,  and  taxes  must  of  necessity  be 
derived  ;  or  even  if  I  have  made  an  error  of  five  or  ten  cents  a  day, 
which  would  come  to  one  thousand  million  or  two  thousand  million  a 
year  in  computing  the  gross  value  of  the  product  of  the  United  States 
— not  a  probable  error  ;  then  fifty-five  to  sixty  cents  a  day  is  the  limit, 
and  even  that  limit  is  a  very  narrow  one  ;  it  leaves  little  margin  for 
saving  either  time  or  work. 

This  special  community  of  6,000  persons  would  have  furnished 
itself,  according  to  the  average  of  the  whole  country,  with  fifteen  miles 
of  railway  ;  but  being  a  more  prosperous  community  than  the  average, 
it  has  perhaps  twenty,  thirty,  or  possibly  forty  miles.  Of  the  2,000 
persons  occupied  for  gain,  140  may  be  engaged  either  in  operating  or 
in  constructing  railways,  36  as  engineers  and  firemen  or  other  em¬ 
ployes,  the  rest  as  mechanics  and  laborers.  Of  the  nineteen  to  twenty 
million  men,  women,  and  children  now  carrying  on  the  work  of  this 
country,  probably  more  than  twelve  hundred  thousand  men  are  occu¬ 
pied  either  in  operating  or  in  constructing  railways.  This  railway 
force  is  our  standing  army  ;  while  other  nations  prepare  for  war  we 
prepare  for  peace  and  plenty  by  opening  the  ways  for  commerce. 

It  is  curious  to  observe  that  the  only  relics  of  the  great  Roman 
empire  which  now  have  any  actual  utility  among  men  are  the  Roman 
road  and  the  Roman  law.  The  one,  which  was  constructed  to  open 
the  way  for  conquest,  remains  an  open  way  for  commerce  ;  the  other 
remains  at  the  foundation  of  our  civil  organization  ;  all  else  has 
vanished  except  Roman  literature  and  art.  Of  all  the  forms  of  capital 
which  at  the  present  day  are  springing  into  existence,  perhaps  less  will 
remain  even  a  century  hence  than  now  remains  of  the  capital  or  prod¬ 
ucts  of  the  Roman  empire,  if  we  except  the  opening  of  the  ways.  The 
term  “  fixed  capital  ”  is  sometimes  used  to  distinguish  the  less  perish¬ 
able  forms  of  capital  from  those  which  are  useful  only  for  the  day ;  but 
there  is  nothing  fixed  except  the  law  of  change.  There  are  factories 
in  existence  which  purport  to  be  fifty  years  old  ;  but  within  that  time 
the  motive  power  and  all  the  machinery  has  been  changed  once,  twice, 
or  thrice.  Where  land  can  be  had,  true  economy  may  now  consist  in 
taking  down  the  high  building  of  five  or  six  stories  piled  one  upon  an¬ 
other,  and  in  reconstructing  the  mill  only  one  or  two  stories  above  the 


22  1 


Reforms  that  do  not  Reform. 

ground  ;  such  changes  are  now  being  made.  Who  can  tell  when  the 
next  inventor  will  appear  who  will  destroy  all  the  rolling-stock  of  the 
railways  ?  Who  can  tell  how  long  people  will  be  satisfied  with  the 
present  crude  and  unscientific  methods  of  constructing  dwelling- 
houses  ?  What  useful  factor  or  form  of  capital  exists  in  a  material 
form  to-day  that  is  more  than  a  few  years  old  ?  What  permanent  im¬ 
provement  have  we  made  on  the  face  of  the  land  even  in  this  country, 
except  in  leveling  the  hills,  piercing  the  mountains,  filling  up  the  val¬ 
leys,  and  laying  down  the  ways  of  commerce  ?  All  that  we  can  do  is 
to  move  something ;  we  can  make  nothing.  And  when  we  have  opened 
the  way,  laid  the  rail,  and  brought  the  line  to  the  seaboard,  why  do  we 
obstruct  the  distribution  of  our  own  products  ?  Why  do  we  construct 
legal  barriers  to  commerce  with  Canada  and  Mexico,  for  instance,  more 
difficult  and  costly  to  surmount  than  any  of.  the  heavy  grades  over  the 
mountains. 

This  community  of  6,000  people  would  have  furnished  itself,  at  the 
average  of  the  whole  country,  with  $150,000  in  lawful  money,  consist¬ 
ing  of  gold  or  silver  coin,  legal-tender  notes  receivable  for  taxes,  con¬ 
vertible  bank-notes,  and  certificates  based  on  silver  or  gold.  The  more 
dense  the  population,  the  greater  will  be  the  proportion  of  checks  sub¬ 
stituted  for  actual  money  ;  and  the  more  widely  scattered  the  popula¬ 
tion,  the  more  actual  money  must  be  carried  in  the  pockets  of  the 
people.  All  we  have  to  do  is  to  keep  the  quality  of  the  money  good 
and  the  quantity  will  take  care  of  itself. 

It  is  admitted  that  there  may  be  a  small  margin  of  error  in  each 
and  all  of  these  computations.  The  proportion  of  people  engaged  in 
the  different  arts  varies  materially  in  different  States,  but  it  is  not 
necessary  that  the  proportions  assumed  should  exactly  correspond 
with  those  of  any  particular  State.  These  small  figures  represent  very 
nearly  the  proportions  of  the  work  and  of  the  product  of  the  whole 
community.  In  taking  the  United  States  Census  returns  of  the  occu¬ 
pations  of  the  people,  the  margin  for  error  is  small,  and  the  errors 
would  alter  the  proportions  assigned  to  each  occupation  in  this  small 
community  only  by  a  fraction. 

We  have  become  so  accustomed  to  treat  income  in  terms  of  money 
that  a  person  is  apt  to  stop  at  the  figures  without  giving  thought  to 
what  the  money  will  buy.  Now  the  money  measure  of  the  income  is 
but  an  evidence  that  productive  work  has  been  done  from  which  the 
income  has  been  derived.  The  work  itself  varies  in  quantity  and 
quality  ;  the  income  of  each  person  depends  more  upon  the  quality 
thai\upon  the  quantity  of  his  work.  Therefore  the  apparent  paradox 
comes  within  easy  comprehension,  to  wit,  that  in  determining  the  cost 
of  any  given  service  the  rate  of  wages  in  money  is  no  sure  standard, 
but  if  the  quality  of  the  work  from  which  the  wages  or  earnings  are 


222  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 

derived  is  good,  the  rate  of  wages  will  be  highest  where  the  actual  cost 
of  production  is  lowest. 

Again,  the  rate  of  earnings  not  commonly  called  wages  but  counted 
under  salaries  or  profits,  will  be  highest  in  proportion  to  the  quality 
of  the  mental  factor  by  which  the  manual  or  mechanical  work  is 
guided.  In  this,  again,  the  paradoxical  rule  will  hold  good,  that  the 
highest  earnings  or  salaries  and  the  largest  profits  are  derived  from 
the  largest  product  made  at  the  lowest  cost  by  the  .payment  of  the 
highest  wages  which  the  sale  of  the  product  will  permit,  and  by  the 
application  of  the  most  effective  proportion  of  mental  rather  than  of 
manual  work.  It  is  in  this  way  that  the  function  of  the  capitalist  is 
justified.  By  his  mental  power  in  guiding  and  controlling  the  appli¬ 
cation  of  capital  in  the  most  effective  way,  he  adds  to  the  product  of 
the  community  tenfold  or  twenty-fold  what  he  takes  from  it  for  his 
own  consumption.  He  thus  reduces  the  cost  of  all  production,  and 
increases  the  real  wages  or  earnings  of  all  the  manual  or  mechanical 
workers  who  join  with  him  in  the  conduct  of  all  the  industries  and 
occupations  of  the  country,  because  he  not  only  assures  the  highest 
wages  to  those  who  perform  the  most  skilful  and  effective  work,  but 
he  is  engaged  in  a  perpetual  effort  to  make  his  capital  more  effective, 
so  that  the  proportion  of  his  capital  to  the  quantity  or  value  of  his 
product  steadily  diminishes.  Under  this  imperative  law  the  rate  of 
wages  of  the  workman  is  raised,  and  at  the  same  time  each  dollar  or 
unit  of  the  wages  will  buy  more  of  the  product  of  the  establishment  in 
which  he  works,  or  more  of  the  materials  for  shelter,  food,  and  clothing 
for  which  the  product  of  that  factory  may  be  exchanged.  If  such  are 
the  methods  of  progress  under  the  competitive  system  which  now 
prevails,  we  may  well  hesitate  in  attempting  to  reconstruct  society  by 
any  of  the  processes  submitted  by  ardent  reformers,  whether  quacks 
or  regulars. 

Now,  then,  how  can  we  reform,  change,  alter,  or  improve  the  present 
condition  of  any  6,000  people  consisting  of  a  few  rich,  a  considerable 
number  of  well-to-do,  a  large  number  of  busy,  fairly  well-housed,  and 
fully  nourished  working  people  who  are  engaged  in  all  the  arts  of  life, 
and  a  moderate  proportion  of  poor  ?  There  are  Protestant  and  Cath¬ 
olic,  temperate  and  intemperate,  well-instructed  and  ignorant,  as  there 
are  in  each  community  wherever  we  take  the  average.  It  is  possible 
that  many  difficulties  may  arise  in  the  application  of  special  and 
theoretic  methods  when  the  attempt  is  made  to  deal  in  a  practical  way 
with  this  typical  community  of  6,000  people,  which  do  not  appear  to 
the  minds  of  those  persons  who  think  they  can  reform  the  whole  na¬ 
tion  by  an  act  of  legislation.  Many  men  think  themselves  fully  com¬ 
petent  to  regulate  the  operation  of  150,000  miles  of  railway  and  to 
bring  it  all  under  very  simple  rules,  but  I  have  never  found  one  who 


Reforms  that  do  7iot  Reform. 


223 


was  willing  to  take  the  whole  regulation,  charge,  and  direction  of  the 
bakers’  carts,  the  butchers’  and  grocers’  wagons,  or  the  job  teams  of  a 
single  city,  or  to  attempt  to  reduce  the  cost  even  of  distributing  bread 
after  it  is  baked.  The  distribution  of  bread  after  it  is  baked  now 
costs  the  average  workman  in  a  city  as  much  as  it  does  to  grow  the 
wheat,  mill  it,  barrel  it,  move  it  1500  miles,  and  convert  it  into  bread, 
all  put  together.  If  the  theories  of  obstruction  and  regulation  which 
have  been  attempted  in  the  control  of  the  railway  system  were  fully 
applied  to  the  traffic  even  of  a  city  of  moderate  size,  it  would  almost 
surely  happen  that  some  of  the  inhabitants  would  starve  every  week 
unless  put  into  the  almshouse. 

It  is  easy  to  imagine  the  conditions  of  a  small  community  of  6,000 
persons,  some  of  them  far  distant  from  the  rest  in  the  outskirts  of  the 
300  square  miles  occupied,  others  living  in  closer  neighborhood,  as  in 
villages  ;  while  in  a  district  close  to  the  coast- line  there  may  be  a  town 
in  which  people  are  crowded  together  as  they  are  in  many  of  our  large 
cities.  We  can  also  imagine  in  each  community  a  certain  number  of 
“  cranks,”  a  certain  number  of  dishonest  people,  a  certain  number  of 
thieves  who  steal  either  within  or  without  the  forms  of  law  ;  also  a 
certain  number  of  sentimentalists  who, .  finding  things  all  wrong,  are 
absolutely  certain  that  they  can  put  them  all  right  ;  and  also  a  certain 
number  who  promote  pauperism  by  indiscriminate  almsgiving  ;  finally, 
a  good  many  who  think  they  could  build  up  a  community,  if  they 
only  had  their  own  way,  in  a  much  better  form  than  that  in  which  this 
community  finds  itself.  Would  it  not  be  judicious  to  apply  a  little 
common-sense  to  some  of  the  methods  which  are  indicated  by  the  names 
or  titles  already  given  to  the  several  classes  of  social  reformers  and 
economic  theorists  ? 

We  may  perhaps  find  in  each  community  of  6,000  people  one  or 
two  anarchists,  who  have  been  bred  in  a  foreign  land  under  a  despot¬ 
ism,  and  who  think  that  because  there  may  be  no  way  out  from  that 
despotism  except  by  assassination  or  by  the  destruction  of  all  existing 
forms  of  society,  therefore  the  same  methods  should  be  applied  in  this 
community  ;  so  they  shoot  a  policeman  in  place  of  a  military  ruler. 
Is  there  any  better  way  of  dealing  with  them  when  they  become  vio¬ 
lent  than  the  Chicago  method  ? 

There  will  be  a  few  socialists,  or  advocates  of  what  is  called  the 
collective  method  of  regulating  society  under  the  control  of  the  state, 
who  desire  to  bring  all  the  property  of  the  community  under  state 
control,  and  to  do  away  with  private  enterprise  and  private  property 
both  in  land  and  capital.  They  present  a  grand  scheme  under  which 
every  one  shall  have  enough  and  none  shall  have  too  much.  Suppose 
this  grand  scheme  limited  to  the  conditions  of  any  6,000  people,  2,000 
of  whom — men,  women,  and  children — are  occupied  for  gain,  per- 


224 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Amotion. 


haps  one  in  five  of  whom  may  be  a  voter  or  a  man  of  arms-bearing 
age,  and  of  whom  800  may  sometimes  vote.  Now  in  what  community 
of  6,000  people  will  any  considerable  part  of  the  800  men  who  vote, 
or  of  the  800  women,  a  part  of  whom  want  to  vote  but  who  are  not 

permitted,  ever  agree  to  put  the  conduct  of  all  the  business  and  the 

control  of  all  the  capital,  all  the  farms,  factories,  forest,  and  mines 
into  the  hands  of  the  town  officers  by  a  majority  vote  ?  Who  would 
be  the  aldermen,  the  councillors,  or  the  selectmen  chosen  to  become 
the  managers  of  all  the  railways,  factories,  shops,  and  warehouses  ? 

How  would  they  be  selected  ?  What  would  be  the  condition  of  the 

civil  service  of  that  community?  Who  would  be  “boss”?  Would 
such  a  method  of  controlling  the  capital  of  the  community  increase 
the  product  so  that  there  would  be  more  than  $200  worth  per  head 
each  year,  or  about  fifty  cents’  worth  a  day  per  head  ?  Would  this 
plan  be  apt  to  improve  the  methods  of  distribution  ?  If  it  did  not, 
who  would  be  any  better  off  ?  If,  on  the  contrary,  it  were  to  diminish 
the  present  product  and  put  the  distribution  under  the  control  of  the 
superintendent,  might  not  a  good  many  people  starve  who  now  get 
some  sort  of  a  living  ?  Is  not  despotism,  either  of  one  or  more,  the 
necessary  complement  of  socialism  ?  Fully  admitting  that  there  are 
many  functions  of  society  which  the  state  or  the  municipal  corporation 
can  perform  for  the  citizen  better  than  they  can  perform  them  for 
themselves,  yet  if  it  would  be  manifestly  impossible  even  for  a  small 
town  of  6,000  people  to  charge  the  officials  with  all  that  the  advocates 
of  socialism  or  of  the  collective  system  propose,  is  it  not  yet  more  im¬ 
possible  for  the  Congress  of  the  nation  to  interfere  in  the  direction  of 
many  of  the  functions  now  attempted  by  it  ? 

The  communist,  of  whom  a  few  examples  are  always  to  be  found  in 
every  community,  proposes  to  divide  the  annual  product  equally  among 
the  members  of  the  community — to  have  all  things  in  common.  There 
have  been  some  examples  of  successful  communism  in  a  limited  way  ; 
as,  for  instance,  in  the  Shaker  communities  ;  but  the  Shakers  impose 
a  strict  limit  upon  population,  besides  requiring  an  equal  distribution 
of  the  products  of  labor.  This  is  logical.  The  general  application  of 
their  principle  would  lead  to  complete  success  ;  that  is,  there  would 
be  enough  for  all,  for  the  reason  that  all  would  soon  be  none.  When 
we  ask  a  communist  whether  or  not  the  application  of  the  policy  sug¬ 
gested  by  him  would  lead  to  a  product  exceeding  that  of  the  present 
day,  about  fifty  cents’  worth  daily  per  head,  he  is  incapable  of  giving 
any  affirmative  answer  ;  all  such  undertakings  which  have  assumed  any 
importance,  except  that  of  the  Shakers,  having  failed  and  broken  up. 

Of  late,  the  renewal  of  the  proposition  long  since  presented  by  the 
economists  who  were  known  as  the  physiocrats  of  France,  that  all  value 
comes  from  land,  coupled  with  a  plan  for  collecting  the  entire  revenue 


Reforms  that  do  not  Reform. 


225 


of  the  country  by  the  imposition  of  a  single  tax  upon  the  value  of  land, 
has  led  many  hopeful  persons  to  believe  that  the  panacea  had  been 
found,  and  that  all  that  is  needed  to  bring  about  uniformly  better  con¬ 
ditions  is  to  adopt  the  single-tax  system  and  to  organize  anti-poverty 
societies.  It  is  held  by  them  that  the  rent  of  land  would  be  more  than 
sufficient  to  meet  all  the  expenditures  of  city,  town,  State,  and  nation 
combined,  and  that  by  so  converting  what  is  now  paid  as  rent  into  * 
taxes,  no  rent  could  thereafter  accrue  to  the  benefit  of  private  persons. 
The  advocates  of  the  single-tax  system  admit  that  the  private  posses¬ 
sion  of  land  is  necessary  to  its  productive  use  ;  they  only  propose  to 
tax  land  more  and  other  property  less,  and  they  object  only  to  the 
private  possession  of  land  under  any  other  conditions  than  their  own. 
There  is  no  absolute  private  ownership  of  land  in  this  country.  All 
land  is  now  held  in  conditional  possession  only.  It  is  subject  to  the 
right  of  eminent  domain,  subject  to  be  taken  for  public  use,  and  sub¬ 
ject  to  the  condition  of  paying  taxes  lawfully  assessed  upon  it.  It 
therefore  follows  that  the  advocates  of  the  single-tax  system  propose 
only  to  change  the  conditions  under  which  land  shall  be  held  in  private 
possession  hereafter,  as  compared  with  the  conditions  under  which  it 
has  been  so  held  heretofore.  Will  this  change  increase  the  product  ? 
Will  it  tend  to  the  application  of  more  capital  or  of  less  capital  to  the 
improvement  of  land.  Raw  land  has  no  value.  When  a  high  price  is 
paid  for  a  corner  lot  in  a  city  it  is  paid  for  the  choice  of  position,  not 
for  any  inherent  value  in  the  land  itself.  Until  the  town  house  is  built 
upon  it  the  corner  lot  will  yield  neither  rent  nor  tax.  Where  land  can 
be  occupied  and  used  the  highest  price  is  paid  for  the  selection,  in  order 
that  the  occupant  or  possessor  of  the  corner  lot  may  distribute  the 
greatest  amount  of  products  at  the  lowest  charge  for  the  service.  Land 
attains  value  only  in  proportion  to  the  labor  and  capital  which  are  ap¬ 
plied  to  its  use  and  occupancy.  There  is  more  free  land  waiting  to  be 
used  at  this  time  in  this  country  than  ever  before,  for  the  reason  that 
capital  applied  to  the  construction  of  railways  has  brought  the  whole 
country  within  the  reach  of  settlers  at  the  lowest  possible  cost.  In  the 
older  seaboard  States  land  is  available  for  use  on  better  terms  than  it 
could  have  been  obtained  by  the  original  settlers,  who  paid  nothing  for 
it,  and  who  were  not  subject  to  any  rent,  for  the  reason  that  the  greater 
part  of  the  agricultural  land  of  the  Eastern  States  could  now  be  pur¬ 
chased  at  much  less  than  the  cost  of  clearing  and  improving  it,  or  at 
less  than  the  cost  of  the  buildings  upon  it. 

It  is  also  probably  an  error  to  suppose  that  the  present  rental  value 
of  land,  taken  by  itself,  including  that  somewhat  indefinite  factor,  the  so- 
called  “  unearned  increment,”  even  if  it  could  all  be  converted  to  public 
use  in  payment  of  taxes,  would  suffice  to  meet  the  necessary  expenses  of 
government  even  for  State,  city,  and  town  purposes.  For  several  years 


226 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


the  assessors  of  the  city  of  Boston,  where  the  present  valuation  of  land 
is  very  high,  have  kept  the  valuation  of  land  for  the  purpose  of 
taxation  separate  from  that  of  buildings  and  personal  property.  The 
valuation  of  the  city  for  the  year  t888  was  $764,000,000,  on  which  a 
tax  is  to  be  assessed  of  $10,000,000  for  city,  county,  and  State  pur¬ 
poses,  at  the  rate  of  $13.50  on  each  $1,000  worth  of  property.  Land 
*  and  buildings  are  assessed  nearly  if  not  quite  up  to  the  market  value. 
Personal  property  is  reached  by  the  assessors  of  the  city  of  Boston  in 
larger  measure  than  in  any*  other  city  in  the  country.  At  the  average 
of  recent  years,  the  value  of  land  is  $333,000,000  ;  of  buildings  and 
improvements,  $230,000,000  ;  of  personal  property,  $201,000,000.  In 
order  to  raise  $10,000,000  revenue  the  tax  upon  the  whole  must  be 
$13.50  on  each  $1,000.  If  the  assessment  were  made  upon  real  estate, 
including  land  and  buildings,  the  rate  would  be  $17.75  5  or;  making 
allowance  for  abatements,  $18.50.  If  assessed  on  land  value  only,  the 
assessment  would  be  a  little  over  $33,  allowing  for  abatements  about 
$35,  on  each  $r,ooo.  It  is  doubtful  if  the  rental  now  obtained  by  the 
owners  of  all  the  land  of  Boston  would  more  than  meet  the  $10,000,- 
000  expenses  of  the  State  and  city,  omitting  wholly  the  amount  re¬ 
quired  by  the  nation.  It  must  be  remembered  that  our  national  taxes 
amount  to  a  sum  as  large,  if  not  larger  than  all  the  State,  county,  city,, 
and  town  taxes  combined. 

Let  it  be  assumed  that  all  the  taxes  are  levied  upon  land  at  $35 
per  $1,000  :  the  first  question  which  arises  is,  Would  not  this  heavy 
rate  immediately  depress  the  value  of  land  ?  It  has  done  so  in  other 
cases  where  even  indirect  taxes  upon  land  customarily  assessed  upon 
occupiers  and  not  upon  owners  have  become  excessive.  I  heard  of 
good  land  in  England  last  summer  on  which  the  rates  and  tithes  were 
so  heavy  that  its  market  value  was  only  five  shillings  an  acre.  The 
rates,  tithes,  and  other  burdens  upon  wheat  land  in  Great  Britain, 
where  there  is  almost  no  direct  tax  upon  land  value,  come  to  more 
than  the  entire  cost  of  producing  wheat  in  Illinois,  Minnesota,  or 
Dakota.  If  the  value  of  land  were  thus  reduced,  the  revenues  would 
of  necessity  be  derived  in  some  other  way  than  by  an  assessment  on 
value.  It  would  then  become  necessary  for  the  city  assessors  to 
determine  the  relative  rental  value  and  not  the  salable  value  of  each 
parcel  of  land  ;  they  must  then  assess  a  tax  on  it  in  the  form  of  rent 
without  regard  to  what  it  would  bring  in  the  market.  The  end  of  that 
would  be  that  the  city  would  become  the  landlord  and  the  assessors 
would  fix  the  rent.  How  would  they  change  the  rental  from  time  to 
time,  to  meet  new  conditions  as  the  value  of  each  particular  site  for 
use  or  occupation  changed,  permanent  possession  of  land  being 
admittedly  necessary  to  its  productive  use  and  occupancy  ?  When  the 
rental  tax  had  been  fixed  for  a  long  term — without  which  fixity  of 


Reforms  that  do  not  Reform. 


227 


tenure  no  permanent  buildings  would  be  constructed, — if  the  site  value 
increased  the  tenant  would  sell  his  lease  for  a  bonus  and  thus  secure 
the  unearned  increment.  If  the  site  value  decreased,  he  could  no 
longer  pay  the  tax  ;  who  would  compensate  him  for  the  unearned 
decrement  ?  Witness  the  failure  of  the  attempt  to  fix  judicial  rents  in 
Ireland  by  the  decision  of  a  court.  In  many  cases  the  tenant  has 
secured  a  reduction  by  representing  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  court 
that  he  could  pay  no  more.  As  soon  as  the  rent  has  been  fixed,  the 
tenant  has  sold  his  new  lease  at  a  large  bonus  or  premium.  Who 
would  put  a  building  upon  land  under  such  a  no-private  rent  and 
single-tax  tenure,  unless  he  could  obtain  a  permanent  lease  from  the 
authorities  at  a  fixed  rental  or  an  agreement  for  taxation  at  a  fixed 
rate  ?  Who  would  then  put  a  building  upon  such  land  unless  he  could 
obtain  the  average  income  from  his  capital,  and  unless  he  could 
recover  in  addition  thereto  the  rent  or  taxes  due  to  the  city,  from  those 
who  should  occupy  or  use  the  buildings  upon  the  premises?  Would 
land  subject  to  an  annual  tax  of  $35  per  $1,000  on  the  present  value  be 
more  widely  distributed  than  it  now  is  ?  This  tax  must  be  the  first 
lien  upon  the  land  ;  could  any  man  except  a  large  capitalist  afford  to 
occupy  land  on  such  terms  ?  How  would  a  single  tax  on  land  affect 
farmers,  who  can  now  barely  earn  the  tax  imposed  on  their  land  and 
who  seldom  get  more  than  a  fair  return  for  their  labor  out  of  their 
land  as  compared  with  the  returns  from  other  occupations  ?  Most  of 
the  farm  land  of  this  country  is  no-rent  land  ;  it  yields  no  more  than  a 
fair  return  for  labor.  How  would  country  towns  obtain  any  revenue, 
where  all  the  land  yields  but  a  meagre  support  to  those  who  either 
occupy  or  cultivate  it  ? 

The  fallacy  of  this  proposition  lies  in  the  fact  that  land  is  the  only 
source  of  primary  production,  and  is  not  the  only  source  of  income.  If 
taxes  are  to  be  strictly  assessed  on  land  in  ratio  to  its  capacity  to  yield 
rent  or  a  rental  tax,  then  the  possession  of  land  in  the  hands  of  those 
most  capable  of  using  it  as  an  instrument  of  the  utmost  production 
must  become  necessary  in  order  that  the  tax  may  be  met.  Low-taxed 
land  now  serves  for  the  support  of  many  who  have  neither  the  capital 
nor  the  capacity  to  get  the  utmost  production  from  it ;  but  if  all  taxes 
are  put  upon  land  only  and  the  rate  thus  becomes  very  high,  it  can  be 
used  or  cultivated  only  in  the  most  productive  way,  and  this  implies 
large  capital  and  full  capacity.  Would  not  this  again  tend  to  the  con¬ 
centration  of  land  in  fewer  hands  than  now  possess  it  ?  Would  not  the 
capitalist,  or  any  other  person  who  might  possess  the  land  under  the 
new  conditions,  be  enabled  to  distribute  the  whole  of  the  single  tax 
among  the  consumers  of  all  products  more  surely  than  he  does  now  ? 

Finally,  would  this  change  in  the  system  of  land-tenure  lead  to  an 
increase  of  production  ?  If  the  present  product  is  fifty  cents'  worth 


228 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


per  head  of  the  population,  more  or  less,  what  would  be  the  effect  of 
the  single-tax  system  in  increasing  or  diminishing  this  product  ?  When 
the  advocates  of  this  system  put  their  proposed  measure  into  the  form 
of  a  bill  to  be  submitted  to  any  legislature,  their  difficulties  will  begin 
and  the  fallacy  of  their  reasoning  will  at  once  become  plain.  I  may 
suggest  that  it  is  often  a  sufficient  test  of  an  a  priori  theory  to  ask  the 
proponent  to  put  his  proposed  system  in  the  form  of  a  bill  to  be  passed 
upon  by  any  legislature.  This  brings  the  subject  to  a  practical  issue, 
and  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  the  theorists  are  incapable  of  framing  an 
act  that  will  work,  because  their  propositions  are  impracticable. 


IX. 


HOW  SOCIETY  REFORMS  ITSELF.1 

H E  advocate  of  co-oppratinn  /holds  ont  the  expectation  of  great 
benefit  to  the  community  by  the  adoption  of  that  _system, 
especially  when  applied  to  distribution,  One  may  ask  those 
who  prefer  this  method,  If  you  desire  to  co-operate,  why  do  you  not 
co-operate  ?  There  is  nothing  to  prevent,  except  the  one  fact  which  is 
commonly  overlo oked,  namely ,  that  the  small  margin  of  profit  which 
now  suffices  to  maintain  the  great  shops  of  this  country,  dealing  upon 
the  cash  system  and  upon  the  principle  of  large  sales  and  small  profits, 
leaves  little  ofTfo  fraction  to  be  saved  by  those  who  choose  to  co¬ 
operate  in  some  other  way  than  by  buying  at  such  a  shop.  The 
highest  city  rents  are  paid  by  the  great  shopkeepers  for  warerooms  in 
central  locations,  in  order  to  be  able  to  distribute  goods  at  the  lowest 
cost,  because  such  places  are  most  convenient  for  their  customers. 
The  customers  save  more  time  and  labor  for  themselves  by  going  to 
these  great  shops  in  the  trade  centres,  on  which  the  highest  rents  are 
paid,  than  they  can  save  for  themselves  by  going  long  distances  to 
small  shops  widely  scattered,  or  by  attempting  to  share  the  small  mar¬ 
gin  of  profit  by  going  into  the  business  of  co-operation.  It  is  also 
probably  an  error  to  suppose  that  the  big  shops  eat  up  the  little  ones. 
The  vast  increase  in  the  mass  of  commodities  to  be  distributed  in 
recent  years  makes  the  big  shops  necessary  to  do  the  additional  work, 
while  what  are  now  small  shops  in  the  smaller  cities  would  have  been 
great  shops  in  the  great  cities  thirty  or  forty  years  ago.  The  largest 
dealers  do  their  work  at  the  least  specific  charge  or  profit  on  each 
transaction  ;  it  is  only fin  ""the  '"small '"'shops', “especially  in  those  giving 


of  co-operative  distribution  in  Great  Britain,  where  long  credit,  even 
on  retail  purchases,  has  engendered  high  cost  in  distribution,  it 
appeared  that  the  profit  saved  and  divisible  among  themselves 
amounted  to  more  than  twelve  per  cent,  on  the  gross  sales.  It  is  well 
known  that  the  co-operative  shops  on  a  cash  basis  sell  at  lower  prices 


:redit,  that  the  cost  of  distribution  is  high  in  proportion  to  the  amount 
>Tthe  business  done.  At  a  recent  convention  of  the  representatives 


1  Reprinted  from  the  Forum . 
229 


230  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 

than  the  private  shops.  Where  is  the  great  shop  in  any  city  in  the 
United  States  in  which  the  net  profit  is  even  half  of  twelve  per  cent,  on 
the  gross  sales  ?  The  largest  fortunes  are  made  on  a  much  smaller 
margin  of  profit.  On  the  other  hand,  the  rents,  charges,  and  expenses 
of  the  great  shops,  large  as  they  are  in  the  aggregate,  come  to  a  very 
small  percentage  on  the  gross  sales,  while  in  the  management  of  the 
separate"  "departments'  of'  these  great  establishments,  large  numbers  of 
men  attain  success  as  business  men  who  have  failed  in  their  attempts 
to  transact  the  same  business  wholly  on  their  own  account. 

The  operations  of  the  great  banks  are  probably  conducted  at  the 
least  margin  of  profit  on  each  transaction,  as  compared  with  all  other 
branches  of  commerce.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  in  all  times  and  in 
all  places,  since  banking  became  one  of  the  necessary  factors  of  com¬ 
merce,  the  highest  mental  qualities  of  judgment,  prudence,  and  fore¬ 
sight,  as  well  as  the  highest  moral  qualities  of  honor,  probity,  and 
truth  have  been  called  for  and  have  been  found  in  those  who  have 
conducted  the  great  banking  houses  of  the  world.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  is  no  truer  standard  by  which  to  measure  the  general  intelligence 
and  integrity,  or  the  want  of  these  characteristics,  in  a  given  com¬ 
munity,  than  by  the  support  or  obstruction  which  its  members  may 
give  to  the  establishment  of  a  well-developed  system  of  banks  and 
banking. 

We  may  therefore  ask  the  advocates  of  co-operation,  Would  your 
method  increase  the  general  product  or  decrease  the  cost  of  distribu¬ 
tion  so  that  each  one  might  get  more  for  his  fifty  cents  than  he  gets 
now  ?  Can  you  save  any  thing  in  the  general  cost  of  distribution  ?  If 
you  can,  why  do  you  not  co-operate  ?  So  far  as  legislation  is  con¬ 
cerned,  the  way  is  open. 

Another  proposed  panacea  is  that  of  profit-sharing.  In  one  way 
this  has  been  an  established  method  ever  since  the~factory  system  was 
introduced.  Payment  by  the  piece  is  but  a  system  of  profit-sharing 
without  imposing  upon  the  workman  any  responsibility  for  losses.  It 
lies  at  the  very  foundation  of  the  rule  that  large  earnings  are  the 
correlative  or  complement  of  a  low  cost  of  production  ;  it  is  also  con¬ 
ducive  to  greater  profit  in  any  branch  of  industry  to  which  it  can  be 
applied  than  employers  can  secure  by  any  other  method.  Profit-shar¬ 
ing  in  this  way  is,  however,  very  different  from  the  conception  of  those 
who  advocate  it  as  a  more  just  method  of  distribution  than  the  present 
system.  It  is  commonly  assumed  that  the  share  which  now  falls  to 
capital  under  the  name  of  profits  is  very  large,  because  such  profits 
have  been  the  source  of  many  great  individual  fortunes.  In  this  again 
it  is  not  safe  to  reason  except  on  the  basis  of  facts.  In  many  arts  the 
share,  or  profit,  falling  to  the  capital  invested  may  be  equal  to  the 
whole  sum  of  wages  paid  out  in  the  conduct  of  the  work  ;  yet  this 


How  Society  Reforms  Itself. 


231 


profit  may  be  but  a  very  small  fraction  on  each  unit  of  product,  and 
may  represent  but  a  very  moderate  percentage .  upon  the  capital  used, 
in  proportion  to  the  risk  taken.  In  almost  all  the  primary  processes 
in  the  production  of  metals,  in  many  branches  of  metal-working,  and 
in  the  textile  arts,  the  capital  required  in  the  mills  or  works  comes  to  a 
thousand  dollars  or  more  for  every  man  or  woman  employed.  Heavy 
stocks  of  material  must  be  carried,  from  one  half  to  three  fourths  of 
the  value  of  the  finished  product  may  consist  of  the  cost  of  the 
materials  purchased,  and  the  total  annual  product  may  not  much 
exceed  the  amount  of  capital  invested.  In  other  arts,  such  as  milling 
grain,  packing  meats,  and  the  like,  the  cost  of  materials  may  come  to 
even  ninety  per  cent,  or  more  of  the  value  of  the  completed  product ; 
hence  even  a  mere  fraction  of  profit  on  the  outlay  for  material  may 
amount  to  a  larger  sum  than  all  the  wages  paid  in  that  branch  of  pro¬ 
duction.  If  great  fortunes  are  made  on  these  small  margins,  it  is 
because  those  special  branches  of  work  are  the  very  one's  which  require 
not  only  the  largest  proportionate  amount  of  capital  but  also  the  very 
greatest  ability  in  the  management. 

It  follows  that  the  ratio  of  profits  to  the  work  done  is  only  that 
which  will  bring  into  the  business  the  necessary  capital  and  ability  com¬ 
bined  ;  therefore  any  system  which  should  propose  to  give  to  the  work¬ 
man  any  share  of  this  small  margin,  without  his  taking  a  corresponding 
share  in  the  risk  of  loss,  would  of  necessity  result  in  restricting  the  work 
itself.  Only  those  who  are  specially  protected  for  a  time  by  patents, 
by  combinations  or  trusts,  or  by  special  legislation,  can  resist  the  ten¬ 
dency  of  profits  to  a  minimum,  because  the  competition  of  capital  with 
capital  works  steadily  toward  the  reduction  of  all  profits  to  the  measure 
of  that  rate  which  is  necessary  to  attract  capital  and  ability  to  the 
work,  without  which  the  work  will  not  be  undertaken  at  all. 

Many  intelligent  attempts  have  been  made  on  the  part  of  great 
capitalists  or  employers  of  labor  to  introduce  the  system  of  profit- 
sharing,  according  to  the  reformers’  conception  of  that  term,  for  the 
joint  benefit  of  owner  and  workman  alike.  If  such  joint  benefit  had 
been  the  result,  would  not  the  system  have  become  general  ?  Has  it 
been  found, -as  a  rule,  to  promote  an  increase  of  product  or  a  diminu¬ 
tion  of  work  ?  Has  it  added  to  the  sum  or  mass  of  the  product  of  the 
community  ?  Unless  this  method  should  either  add  to  the  present 
product  of  fifty  cents’  worth  per  head  per  d£ty  or  reduce  the  cost  of 
making  that  product,  what  effect  would  it  have  on  the  general  condi¬ 
tion  of  society  ? 

The  advocate  of  protection  to  domestic  industry  by  means  of  a  tariff, 
alleges  that  the  taxing  of  foreign  imports  will  greatly  increase  the  general 
product,  and  will  in  the  long  run  diminish  the  cost  of  the  protected 
article.  This  system  may  undoubtedly  give  a  different  direction  to  the 


232  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 

work  of  a  particular  community,  but  is  it  not  in  the  nature  of  things  of 
very  limited  application  ?  In  a  given  community  of  6,000  people 
divided  substantially  like  the  example  already  given,  2,000  doing  the 
whole  work  of  the  community,  can  more  than  from  six  to  ten  per  cent, 
be  found  who  now  make  or  can  make  any  thing  which  could  be  even 
in  part  imported  from  any  foreign  country  ?  If  more,  how  many  ?  A 
glance  at  the  distribution  of  occupations  and  a  little  thought  given  to 
the  kind  of  work  done  by  each  class,  may  be  all  that  is  necessary  to 
answer  this  question.  Moreover,  can  the  articles  which  are  imported 
from  a  foreign  country  be  paid  for  in  any  other  way  than  by  an  ex¬ 
change  for  or  export  of  domestic  products  ?  Is  not  all  international 
commerce  of  necessity  a  mere  exchange  of  equivalents,  unless  when  a 
foreign  loan  is  negotiated  ?  In  the  community  taken  as  an  example, 
the  export  trade,  corresponding  to  the  import  from  without,  appears 
to  give  employment  to  a  greater  number  of  persons  than  are  occupied 
in  the  arts  of  which  a  part  of  the  product  can  be  imported.  If  this 
exchange  of  products  is  wholly  or  in  part  prevented  by  duties  upon 
imports,  will  the  final  effect  be  to  increase  the  general  product  of  the 
whole  community  to  a  sum  or  mass  more  adequate  than  it  is  now  ?  If 
so,  how  much  ?  And  how  will  the  gain  be  distributed  ?  Will  all  get 
a  share  or  only  a  few  ?  Will  many  pay  the  cost  in  order  that  soml  may 
gain  ?  Is  not  this  system  rather  one  which  gives  a  different  direction 
to  industry  than  one  which  promotes  an  increase  of  the  gross  product  ? 

On  the  other  hand,  the  advocate  of  free  trade  alleges  that  if  imports 
were  not  obstructed  by  taxation  there  would  be  a  large  addition  to  the 
general  product  of  the  whole  country  in  consequence  of  this  free  ex¬ 
change,  and  thereby  domestic  industry  would  be  most  effectually  pro¬ 
moted.  But  to  him  the  question  may  be  put,  How  large  a  market  can 
you  find  for  the  excess  of  domestic  products  which  we  cannot  consume 
at  home  ?  How  much  would  your  domestic  product  be  increased  if 
there  were  no  obstruction  to  the  import  of  the  crude  or  partly  manu¬ 
factured  commodities  necessary  in  the  processes  of  domestic  industry  ? 
If  by  admitting  crude  or  partly  manufactured  products  you  add  to  the 
power  of  domestic  manufacturers  to  supply  the  home  market  with 
finished  goods,  would  you  not  then  diminish  the  import  of  finished 
goods  ?  May  you  not  then  only  alter  the  conditions  of  distribution  ? 
How  much  can  you  increase  the  general  product  of  the  whole  community 
above  fifty  cents  a  head/or  whatever  it  is  now,  by  altering  the  condi¬ 
tions  of  foreign  trade,  in  which  perhaps  less  than  twenty  per  cent,  of 
the  community  can  have  any  direct  interest  either  as  exporters  or  im¬ 
porters  ?  Must  not  exports  and  imports  substantially  correspond  with 
each  other  in  value,  unless  we  become  heavy  borrowers  of  capital  ? 
Would  not  foreign  exports  soon  cease  if  we  demanded  only  coin  in 
exchange  ?  Would  not  one  or  two  years’  trade  drain  every  bank  in 
Europe,  and  if  we  secured  the  coin,  should  we  have  any  use  for  so 


How  Society  Reforms  Itself. 


233 


large  a  quantity  in  our  domestic  traffic  ?  If  the  whole  volume  of  im¬ 
port  and  export  constitutes  but  a  small  part  of  the  total  traffic  of  this 
country,  does  not  the  tariff  question  become  one  of  the  minor  forces 
rather  than  a  prime  factor  ? 

Yet  although  our  foreign  traffic  may  not  be  a  prime  factor  in  ma¬ 
terial  welfare,  is  it  not  a  sort  of  balance-wheel  on  which  the  steady  and 
continuous  movement  of  the  exchange  of  all  domestic  products  among 
ourselves  must  mainly  depend  ?  It  is  doubtless  true  that  the  home 
market  takes  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  products  of  agriculture,  but 
is  not  the  price  established  by  what  even  a  small  excess  will  bring  for 
export  ?  It  is  true  that  while  the  manufacturing  portion  of  the  com¬ 
munity  are  large  consumers  of  foreign  products,  farmers  and  farm 
laborers  are  the  largest  consumers  of  manufactured  goods.  If  domes¬ 
tic  manufactures  are  promoted  in  any  suitable  manner,  doubtless  the 
demand  for  farm  products  may  also  be  increased  ;  but  if  the  method 
of  promoting  domestic  manufactures  is  one  which  stops  or  diminishes 
the  export  of  farm  products,  will  not  the  demand  for  farm  products,  of 
which  our  exports  mainly  consist,  be  correspondingly  reduced  ?  Can 
the  farmers  be  then  as  good  customers  for  domestic  manufactures  ? 
Would  they  gain  as  much  or  as  rapidly  in  the  home  demand  as  they 
might  lose  on  the  foreign  sales  ? 

Now,  since  the  excess  of  our  farm  products  cannot  be  sold  for  coin 
only,  and  can  be  disposed  of  only  in  exchange  for  foreign  goods,  does 
it  not  follow  that  any  obstruction  to  the  import  of  foreign  goods  also 
checks  the  export  of  farm  products,  and  diminishes  the  powder  of  the 
farmers  and  farm  laborers  to  buy  domestic  manufactures  ?  If  a 
method  of  promoting  domestic  manufactures  is  adopted  which  di¬ 
minishes  the  power  of  the  principal  consumers  of  manufactured 
goods  to  buy  them,  may  not  this  system  work  a  grave  injury  even  to 
those  for  whose  benefit  it  was  instituted  ?  These  conditions  must  be 
considered  in  all  their  bearings  before  one  can  determine  whether  any 
thing  can  be  added  to  the  fifty  cents’  worth  a  day,  more  or  less,  of  our 
products,  by  attempting  to  give  one  direction  rather  than  another  to 
the  industry  of  the  country  my  means  of  tariff  legislation. 

In  the  community  of  6,000  people  which  we  have  taken  as  an  ex¬ 
ample,  of  whom  2,000  are  occupied  for  gain,  870  are  farmers  and  farm 
laborers.  If  we  divide  persons  by  the  proportion  of  the  value  of  the 
different  products  of  agriculture,  it  will  appear  that  not  exceeding  five 
per  cent,  of  the  farmers  of  the  United  States,  or  44  of  the  870  em¬ 
ployed  in  agriculture  in  our  typical  example,  are  occupied  in  the  pro¬ 
duction  of  sugar,  tobacco,  flax,  hemp,  wool,  and  a  few  other  articles 
which  could  be  imported  in  part  from  any  other  foreign  country 
except  Canada.  We  now  sell  more  products  of  agriculture  to  Canada 
than  we  buy  from  that  country,  therefore  Canada  may  be  left  out  of 
this  consideration.  On  the  other  band,  from  160  to  180  of  each  870 


234 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


persons  occupied  in  agriculture  in  1880,  depended  wholly  upon  a  for¬ 
eign  market  for  the  sale  of  their  product. 

Again,  the  whole  number  of  persons  occupied  for  gain  in  work 
done  in  factories,  mines,  and  metal  works, — that  is,  those  who  are  com¬ 
monly  called  manufacturers, — is  230  in  our  example  ;  and  the  product 
of  30  or  40  of  these  is  exported.  How  many  of  those  engaged  in  the 
manufacturing  arts  are  employed  upon  products  which  could  be  in 
part  imported  ?  This  question  cannot  be  answered  until  the  crude  or 
partly  manufactured  materials  of  foreign  origin  which  enter  into  the 
processes  of  their  work  are  free  from  taxation  ;  such  as  wool,  ores, 
iron,  steel,  hemp,  timber,  chemicals,  dyestuffs,  tin  plates,  as  well  as 
the  machinery  with  which  they  work. 

No  one  can  rightly  measure  the  power  of  this  community,  not  only 
to  supply  itself  with  manufactures  but  also  to  supply  foreign  nations 
with  manufactured  goods,  until  the  disparity  in  the  cost  of  materials 
which  ensues  from  the  taxation  on  imports  of  these  materials  is 
removed.  All  other  machine-using  nations,  with  hardly  any  excep¬ 
tion,  admit  free  of  duty  the  crude  or  partly  finished  materials  which 
are  necessary  in  the  final  processes  of  manufacturing.  We  do  not  ; 
therefore  we  have  as  yet  had  no  experience  by  which  we  can  test  our 
own  power  either  to  supply  our  own  markets  or  to  supply  foreign 
countries  with  finished  goods.  When  this  fact  is  considered,  the 
difficulty  of  measuring  the  effect  of  tariff  legislation,  either  in  pro¬ 
moting  or  in  obstructing  the  work  of  a  part  of  the  people  of  this 
country,  begins  to  be  apparent. 

The  tendency  of  invention  and  of  the  application  of  science  to 
production  and  distribution,  is  to  reduce  all  prices,  to  raise  all  wages, 
and  to  diminish  the  proportion  of  the  product  secured  by  capital  in 
the  form  of  profits.  Does  not  any  disparity  or  disadvantage  in  the 
cost  of  materials  which  enter  into  the  processes  of  domestic  industry 
become  greater  as  the  absolute  prices  of  the  materials  are  reduced 
both  in  this  and  in  other  countries  ? 

In  the  community  of  6,000  people  taken  as  an  example,  the  pro¬ 
portion  of  the  imports  of  foreign  goods  (valued  at  $75,000)  taken  in 
exchange  for  exports  would  be  about  as  follows,  on  the  basis  of  im¬ 
ports  for  the  last  decade  : 


A  Articles  of  food,  or  live  animals . 

B  Articles  in  a  crude  condition  which  are  necessary 

32  per 

cent. 

$24,000 

in  the  processes  of  domestic  industry . 

C  Articles  in  a  partly  manufactured  condition  which 

23  “ 

<  < 

17,250 

are  required  for  use  in  domestic  manufactures 

12  “ 

i  < 

9,000 

D  Articles  fully  manufactured  ready  for  consumption 

21  “ 

(  t 

15,750 

E  Articles  of  luxury  or  of  voluntary  use . 

12  “ 

100 

<  < 

9,000 

$75,ooo 

How  Society  Reforms  Itself. 


235 


It  will  be  observed  that  the  taxes  imposed  upon  Classes  A,  B,  and 
C,  omitting  D  and  E,  in  the  community  of  6,000  people,  came  to  $12,- 
500  out  of  $24,000,  collected  in  the  form  of  duties  upon  imports.  What 
would  be  the  power  of  such  a  community  to  sell  its  finished  products 
outside  its  own  limits  if  this  disparity  were  removed  ?  The  burden  of 
a  tax  is  not  in  its  actual  ratio  to  the  value  of  the  taxed  product,  but  in 
its  ratio  to  the  profit  which  might  be  made  in  making  use  of  that  taxed 
product  as  a  component  material  in  other  manufactures.  Can  any  one 
measure  the  power  of  this  typical  community  until  the  disparity  in  the 
price  of  iron,  machinery,  tools,  timber,  steel,  wool,  hemp,  flax,  and  other 
-crude  materials  shall  be  removed,  by  which  it  is  now  placed  at  a  disad¬ 
vantage  in  competing  with  other  communities  ? 

Again,  how  can  greater  mischief  be  done  than  by  bad  methods,  even 
of  removing  bad  taxes,  except  by  the  bad  system  under  which  they 
have  been  imposed  ?  Were  this  question  to  arise  in  a  small  community 
of  sensible  people,  it  might  not  be  made  the  dividing  line  between 
political  parties,  but  it  would  be  assigned  to  or  taken  up  by  men  of 
common-sense  and  sagacity,  by  whom  the  system  of  providing  revenue 
by  duties  would  be  adjusted  from  time  to  time  according  to  the  new 
conditions  developed  by  invention  and  science,  and  not  according  to 
the  prejudices  inherited  from  other  times  or  according  to  the  supposed 
behest  of  partisan  requirements.  It  may  well  be  that  after  a  direction 
has  been  given  to  the  work  of  large  numbers  of  people  even  by  a  badly 
adjusted  tariff,  the  utmost  care  and  judgment  are  called  for  in  chan¬ 
ging  it,  lest  the  loss  of  capital  caused  by  the  change  should  come  to  more 
than  the  benefit.  It  is  not  true,  on  the  other  hand,  that  as  legislation 
is  now  conducted  the  work  is  mainly  done  by  those  who  have  little 
knowledge  of  the  facts  and  no  convictions  in  regard  to  economic  theo¬ 
ries  based  on  adequate  investigation  of  any  kind  ?  What  else,  then,  can 
happen  but  a  perversion  of  public  trust  to  purposes  of  private  gain, 
even  by  ways  of  which  the  legislators  themselves  have  no  conception  ? 

Again,  taking  no  cognizance  of  the  general  question  of  protection 
and  free  trade,  and  limiting  our  considerations  to  our  relations  with  the 
neighboring  Dominion  of  Canada,  with  which  we  have  lately  been  in 
danger  of  a  quarrel,  what  do  we  find  ?  It  is  alleged  by  those  who 
oppose  the  free  importation  of  fish,  potatoes,  and  other  articles  of 
food,  or  of  timber,  ore,  and  fuel  from  Canada,  that  if  the  exchange 
of  Canadian  products  for  our  own  is  stopped,  then  the  people  of  the 
United  States  will  be  better  off  and  will  have  more  work  to  do.  It  may 
be  admitted  that,  under  these  conditions,  they  will  have  more  work  to 
do.  That  is  not  the  true  question.  Would  they  get  more  for  their 
work  if  these  articles  imported  from  Canada  were  not  taxed,  than  they 
get  now  that  they  are  taxed  ?  We  cannot  buy  from  Canada  for  money 
only,  any  more  than  Canada  can  buy  from  us  for  money  only  ;  there 


236 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


must  be  an  exchange  of  products.  If  we  should  exchange  with  Canada 
the  kind  of  provisions,  coal,  and  goods  that  we  want  less,  and  get  from 
Canada  the  kind  of  food,  the  fuel,  the  ore,  and  the  timber  that  we  want 
more,  might  not  the  product  of  each  country  be  increased  in  the  meas¬ 
ure  of  the  gain  on  such  exchange?  Would  not  the  wage  and  profit 
fund  thus  become  greater  than  it  now  is  ?  The  whole  country  is  dis¬ 
turbed  over  the  fishery  question.  What  is  the  measure  of  that  ques¬ 
tion  ?  We  now  import  about  $300  worth  of  salt  cod  and  smoked  her¬ 
ring,  chiefly  from  Canada,  for  each  6,000  people  in  the  United  States. 
The  whole  contest  with  Canada  over  the  fisheries  grows  out  of  the 
determination  of  Congress  to  tax  the  consumers  of  fish  $60  a  year  on 
each  $300  worth  of  fish  imported  for  the  use  of  each  community  like 
that  taken  for  an  example.  The  revenue  thus  derived  is  not  required  ; 
it  forms  a  part  of  the  surplus.  The  owners  of  the  fishing-smacks  of 
the  United  States  employ  two  or  three  Canadians  to  one  Yankee  in 
catching  fish,  and  the  consumers  of  fish  are  taxed  $60  a  year  on 
each  $300  worth  consumed  by  our  people.  That  tax  on  fish  is  the 
whole  cause  of  the  quarrel  with  Canada  on  the  fishery  question.  Each 
reader  may  compute  for  himself  what  would  be  the  harm  or  what  would 
be  the  benefit  of  removing  the  tax  on  fish,  and  also  estimate  the  harm 
of  keeping  up  a  constant  cause  of  irritation  with  our  next  neighbor  in 
order  to  sustain  this  tax.  The  average  interest  of  each  family  of  five 
persons  in  the  United  States  in  salt  cod  and  smoked  herring  imported 
from  Canada,  subject  to  duty,  is  twenty  cents  a  year;  on  which  the 
revenue  under  the  tariff  is  four  cents,  and  this  revenue  is  not  required. 
When  these  facts  are  considered,  does  not  the  recent  discussion  of  the 
fishery  question  become  a  subject  of  national  humiliation  ?  Whether  the 
treaty  was  a  good  one  or  not  did  not  become  apparent  because  the  oppo¬ 
sition  to  ratification  was  conducted  in  such  a  way  as  to  conceal  the  facts 
and  to  deprive  the  community  of  the  means  of  forming  a  true  judgment. 

We  next  come  to  the  nostrum  of  “  fiat  ”  money.  The  advocate  of 
fiat  money,  or  of  the  unlimited  coinage  of  low-priced  silver,  alleges 
that  if  we  had  more  money  in  circulation  wages  would  be  higher,  and 
then  each  man  could  buy  more,  because  he  would  have  more  money  to 
spend.  Does  not  experience  prove  that  all  tampering  with  the  stand¬ 
ard  of  value,  which  in  the  form  of  coin  is  made  use  of  as  an  instru¬ 
ment  of  exchange,  tends  to  diminish  the  production  of  articles  neces¬ 
sary  for  consumption  ?  Have  not  all  such  undertakings  ended  in 
restricting  credit,  and  therefore  in  diminishing  the  product  and  in 
raising  prices  much  higher  and  much  faster  than  wages  have  been 
advanced  ?  Is  not  credit  one  of  the  prime  factors  in  abundant  pro¬ 
duction  ? 

Unless  a  large  supply  of  so-called  cheap  money  should  increase 
the  product  above  what  fifty  cents  a  day  will  now  buy,  so  that  the 


How  Society  Reforms  Itself. 


2  37 


-greater  quantity  of  money  would  purchase  a  still  greater  quantity  of 
produce,  might  not  the  only  effect  be  that  the  rich  would  become 
richer  while  the  poor  would  become  poorer,  as  has  ever  been  the  case 
when  the  stability  of  the  standard  of  value  has  been  tampered  with  by 
legislation  or  when  the  standard  of  value  has  been  depreciated  ? 

Is  not  the  malignant  influence  of  all  depreciation  in  the  value  of 
the  currency  of  a  country  to  be  found  chiefly  in  its  effect  on  credit  ? 
Is  not  credit  a  prime  factor  in  making  prices  ?  If  so,  does  not  credit 
depend  upon  the  quality  rather  than  upon  the  quantity  of  the  circu¬ 
lating  medium  ?  What  constitutes  credit  ?  Does  not  the  farmer  who 
plants  a  crop,  or  the  manufacturer  who  buys  a  stock  of  crude  material, 
grant  a  credit  to  the  future  when  he  does  so  ?  Will  not  all  his  under¬ 
takings  be  restricted  when  there  is  any  doubt  whether  the  money 
received  for  his  product,  after  all  his  labor  has  been  expended  upon  it, 
will  be  as  good  as  that  which  he  pays  out  for  his  labor  at  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  the  season  ?  Will  not  product  then  be  diminished  ?  During 
the  Civil  War,  when  the  greenback  was  depreciating,  did  not  all  private 
credit  granted  by  one  man  to  another  finally  cease  ?  Did  not  prices 
rise  faster  than  wages  ? 

The  Prohibitionist  says  :  “  Stop  drinking  and  everybody  will  be  • 
better  off.”  This  may  be  true  ;  it  may  perhaps  be  true  that  dram¬ 
drinking  can  be  stopped  by  legislation  ;  but  as  yet  the  method  does 
not  appear  to  have  been  very  successful.  Let  it,  however,  be  admit¬ 
ted  ;  what  does  it  come  to  ?  The  expenditure  for  liquor,  in  the  manu¬ 
facture  of  which  a  certain  part  of  the  grain  and  other  products  of 
agriculture  and  a  certain  amount  of  fuel  has  been  consumed,  now 
averages  about  four  cents  per  day  per  head  of  the  population,  or 
-about  $15  a  year  per  capita.  In  the  typical  community  of  6,000  peo¬ 
ple  this  would  come  to  $90,000  a  year,  or  seven  and  one  half  per  cent, 
of  the  total  product.  To  that  extent  a  great  benefit  might  ensue  if 
the  larger  part  of  the  force  now  expended  or  wasted  in  the  production 
of  spirits  and  beer  could  be  employed  in  some  other  way.  How  can  it 
be  done  ?  It  would  involve  the  necessity  of  finding  other  occupation 
for  the  farmers  and  growers  of  grain  and  hops,  and  for  the  distillers 
and  brewers,  as  well  as  for  the  dealers  who  now  get  their  living 
by  providing  liquor.  To  what  extent  would  this  change  affect  the 
community  as  a  whole  ?  It  is  admitted  that  a  large  part  of  the  crime 
and  of  the  public  expenditures  for  prisons  and  reformatories  is  due  to 
intemperance  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  if  the  statistics  were  accurately 
compiled,  not  only  of  those  whose  productive  capacity  is  impaired  by 
the  use  of  liquor,  but  also  of  those  whose  productive  capacity  is  not 
impaired  by  such  use,  or  if  the  statistics  were  compiled  of  those  who 
make  a  temperate  or  moderate  use  of  liquor  as  compared  to  those  who 
are  intemperate,  the  percentage  of  intemperate  persons  and  the  per- 


238 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


centage  of  persons  whose  ability  to  work  is  impaired,  would  be  small. 
If  each  reader  will  consider  his  own  acquaintance,  or  the  members  of 
the  community  in  which  he  lives,  rich  and  poor,  and  take  note  of  all 
who  ever  drink  so  much  as  to  impair  their  productive  energy,  he  will 
probably  be  surprised  at  the  very  small  number  and  the  very  small 
percentage  of  the  whole  who  will  be  included  in  that  category.  There¬ 
fore  the  question  must  be  asked,  To  what  extent  would  the  disuse  of 
liquor  increase  the  product  or  improve  the  distribution  of  products 
now  measured  on  the  average  at  fifty  cents’  worth  per  head  each  day, 
more  or  less  ?  Is  there  not  a  greater  waste  in  the  use  of  food  than 
there  is  even  in  the  expenditure  for  drink  ?  Admitting  to  the  fullest 
extent  all  that  may  be  presented  as  to  the  bad  effects  of  liquor,  may  it 
not  be  held  that  dyspepsia  caused  by  bad  cooking  is  as  bad  or  even 
a  worse  evil,  whether  considered  materially  or  morally,  than  the  mod¬ 
erate  consumption  of  liquors  which  constitutes  their  average  use  ? 

It  has  been  my  purpose  in  reciting  these  various  proposed  reforms 
by  legislative  methods  or  by  special  organizations,  to  present  them  in  a 
way  that  will  bring  each  to  the  test,  by  applying  each  one  to  the  con¬ 
ditions  of  a  small  community  and  to  the  measure  of  the  present  average 
product  of  this  country.  It  would  be  useless  even  to  attempt  to  state 
the  manifold  bearings  of  any  one  of  these  so-called  reforms  in  an  article 
of  moderate  compass.  I  have  therefore  tried  to  present  “  the  other 
side  ”  in  each  case  cited,  and  to  put  questions  in  such  a  way  as  may 
raise  a  doubt  as  to  the  efficacy  of  his  special  process,  in  the  mind  even 
of  the  most  strenuous  advocate  of  each  legislative  panacea  for  the 
admittedly  narrow  conditions  under  which  we  now  exist.  In  the  end, 
the  common-sense  of  the  people  will  seize  upon  and  hold  fast  every 
element  of  truth  that  is  to  be  found  in  each  and  all  of  these  proposed 
reforms,  and  will  reject  all  that  is  shallow,  fallacious,  or  purely  selfish. 
In  that  way  society  grows  and  reforms  itself. 


X. 


REMEDIES  FOR  SOCIAL  ILLS.3 

IN  preceding  articles  I  have  endeavored  to  exhibit  the  relative  con¬ 
ditions  of  an  average  community  of  6,000  persons,  and  to  apply  to 
such  community  the  various  reforms  which  have  been  suggested  by 
different  parties  in  order  to  bring  about  an  improvement  in  the  general 
social  state.  I  will  not  myself  attempt  to  present  or  to  invent  any 
specific  method  by  which  the  whole  condition  of  society  in  this  country 
may  be  changed.  Each  man  may  perhaps  do  a  little  to  remedy  existing 
faults,  but  he  who  undertakes  to  solve  all  these  social  questions  may 
perhaps  find  that  communities  grow  and  are  not  made  to  order. 

A  rather  prosaic  suggestion  can  perhaps  properly  be  submitted.  It 
is  a  well  ascertained  fact  that,  with  respect  to  about  ninety  per  cent,  of 
the  community,  the  price  paid  for  food  comes  to  one  half  the  income 
or  more.  After  this  food  is  bought,  how  much  of  it  is  wasted  in  bad 
cooking  ?  How  much  human  force  is  wasted  in  consequence  of  bad 
cooking  ?  How  much  does  dyspepsia  or  indigestion,  caused  by  bad 
cooking,  impair  the  working  capacity  of  the  people  of  the  United  States 
and  diminish  their  product  ?  Perhaps  the  reader  can  observe  and 
measure,  or  at  least  guess,  what  is  the  waste  of  food  and  fuel  in  the 
1,200  families  of  five  persons  each,  more  or  less,  constituting  the  com¬ 
munity  of  6,000  persons  who  live  near  him.  How  many  cooks  are 
there  who  know  what  food  to  buy  and  how  to  cook  it  ?  In  any  1,200 
average  families,  more  than  1,000  spend  one  half  their  income  or  more 
for  food  and  fuel  ;  the  less  the  income  the  greater  the  proportion  spent 
for  food. 

Next,  let  the  reader  think  for  himself  whether  five  cents  a  day  per 
head  could  be  saved  in  his  own  family,  or  in  his  neighbors’  families,  or 
on  the  average  whether  the  waste  of  the  1,200  families  nearest  him 
amounts  to  five  cents  a  day  per  capita.  If  all  the  women  were  good 
cooks  and  knew  what  to  buy  and  how  to  prepare  food  in  a  judicious 
and  appetizing  way,  would  the  saving  be  five  cents  a  day  per  head  ? 
If  not,  how  much  ?  One  will  probably  find  that  the  average  expendi¬ 
ture  for  each  person,  man,  woman,  and  child  above  ten  (two  under  tea 

1  Reprinted  from  the  Forum . 

239 


240 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


counted  as  one),  for  food  and  fuel,  is  about  25  cents  a  day.  In  recent 
years  it  may  have  been  a  little  less,  but  prices  are  now  rising  ;  a  few 
years  since  it  was  a  little  more.  Can  five  cents’  worth  per  day  be 
saved  ?  Is  not  that  a  very  insufficient  measure  of  the  difference  be¬ 
tween  a  poor,  wasteful  cook  and  a  good,  economical  one?  If  five  cents 
a  day  can  be  saved  on  food  and  fuel,  while  at  the  same  time  that  which 
is  bought  and  cooked  may  be  converted  into  more  nutritious  and  appe¬ 
tizing  food,  the  difference  in  each  community  of  6,000  people  would  be 
$109,500  a  year,  or  about  nine  per  cent,  of  the  total  product  of  the 
typical  community,  which  we  have  assumed  to  be  $1,200,000  a  year  in 
gross.  When  viewed  in  this  light,  it  may  happen  that  reform  in  the  art 
of  domestic  cooking  ought  to  have  taken  the  first  place  in  the  list  of 
proposed  reforms  already  given.  Can  the  anarchist,  the  communist, 
the  socialist,  the  protectionist,  the  free-trader,  the  co-operator,  the 
paper-money  man,  the  knight  of  labor,  the  eight-hour  man,  or  the 
sentimentalist  invent  or  suggest  any  other  method  of  changing  the 
direction  of  the  industry  of  the  whole  community  which  would  on  the 
whole  be  so  effective  in  improving  the  conditions  of  all,  as  one  which 
would  save  five  cents  a  day  on  food  and  fuel,  the  money  saved  to  be 
devoted  to  providing  better  houses  in  which  people  may  live  ?  If  the 
waste  of  food  and  of  liquor  could  be  saved  and  directed  or  converted 
into  shelter,  by  providing  better  dwelling-places  for  the  community, 
would  not  the  space  or  number  of  rooms  now  occupied  on  the  average 
by  each  family  be  nearly  doubled?  Could  not  the  sanitary  conditions 
be  made  wholesome  ?  Might  not  the  slums  of  the  great  cities  be 
cleaned  out  and  the  nuisance  forever  after  abated  ?  Can  this  be  done 
by  collective  or  state  process  or  by  individual  action  ?  The  writer  has 
been  held  up  to  much  obloquy  for  an  attempt  to  give  this  direction  to 
some  of  the  reforms  of  the  present  day.  Such  abuse  or  objection  has 
usually  come  from  those  who  get  their  living  by  misleading  ignorant 
people  as  to  what  their  true  interest  really  is  ;  it  is  therefore  of  no 
consequence. 

Real  life  consists  in  the  conversion  of  force  ;  that  is  to  say,  in  the 
work,  whether  mental,  mechanical,  or  manual,  which  is  exerted  in 
giving  a  direction  to  the  natural  forces  by  which  life  is  sustained. 
Whether  or  not  the  averages  which  have  been  given  correspond 
identically  to  the  average  product  and  consumption  or  conversion  of 
force  of  the  whole  country,  is  immaterial.  The  margin  for  error  is  in 
any  event  very  small  ;  in  all  large  communities  great  numbers  may 
be  found  whose  conditions,  reported  upon  by  state  bureaus,  correspond 
very  closely  to  the  figures  which  have  been  submitted  in  this  essay  on 
a  unit  of  one  typical  community  numbering  6,000  people.  This  ideal 
community  really  exists  somewhere  in  fact.  If  you  could  only  find  it, 
what  would  you  do  to  improve  the  conditions  ? 


Remedies  for  Social  Ills. 


241 


Perhaps  a  yet  better  example,  and  one  more  easily  comprehended, 
may  be  found  by  considering  the  condition  of.  an  average  family  of  six 
persons,  a  man,  his  wife,  and  four  children  ;  the  man  himself  and  one 
child  doing  the  work  corresponding  to  one  in  three  of  the  present 
population  by  whose  work  subsistence,  shelter,  and  clothing  are  now 
gained  for  all.  We  will  assume  that  this  man  is  a  good  mechanic, 
earning  the  average  pay  of  such  men  in  the  Eastern  or  Middle  States  ; 
the  son  or  daughter  works  in  a  factory  on  fancy  weaving  at  the  highest 
price,  and  earns  about  $  1.20  a  day.  The  income  of  the  two  persons 
on  whom  the  six  depend  would  be  as  follows  : 


300  days’  work  of  the  man,  at  $3.00  a  day .  $900.00 

300  “  “  one  child,  at  about  $1.20  a  day .  350.00 

Total  income . $1,250.00 

Food  for  six  persons,  at  25  cts.  each  per  day,  $91.25  per  year, 

in  round  figures .  $550.00 

Clothing,  7  cts.  each  per  day,  $25.55  Per  year .  150.00 

Fuel,  oil,  and  household  sundries,  3  cts.  each  person  per  day, 

$10.95  per  year .  65.00 

Sundries  for  personal  use,  5  cts.  each  per  day,  $18.25  per  year,  1 10.00 

Rent,  9  cts.  each  per  day,  $33.00  per  year .  200.00 

Deposit  in  savings-bank,  each  person  or  fraction  over  2  cts.  per 

day,  $7.30  per  year,  say .  50.00 

Average  proportion  of  all  taxes,  a  little  less  than  3  cts.  per  day 

for  each  person,  $10.00  per  year .  60.00 


Profit  upon  their  work,  or  contribution  to  capital  at  ratio  of 
ten  per  cent,  on  gross  value  of  their  product,  5  cts.  ;  2  cts. 
having  already  been  set  aside  for  the  profit  of  the  workman, 
there  remains  3  cts.  per  head  per  day  compensation  for  the 


use  of  capital,  $10.95  per  year .  65.00 

I  - 

Total .  $1,250.00 


The  two  persons  occupied  for  gain  in  this  group  of  six  are  therefore 
credited  with  the  average  production  of  $625.00  each  per  year,  or  a 
little  over  $208.33  per  year  per  capita,  which  comes  to  a  fraction  over 
57  cents  per  day  to  each  person. 

In  what  way  can  this  family  improve  its  condition,  or  in  what  way 
can  its  condition  be  improved,  either  by  legislation  or  in  any  other 
manner  ?  The  man  owns  or  occupies  a  house  ;  the  valuation  of  the 
land  is  half  that  of  the  house  and  land  ;  the  rental  of  the  whole  is  $200 
a  year.  If  he  owns  the  house  he  can  put  aside  what  he  would  other¬ 
wise  pay  for  rent,  or  he  can  spend  it  for  more  comfortable  living  ;  this 
implies  private  property  or  possession  of  land.  If  he  does  not  own  his 
house,  he  must  either  pay  rent  for  it  to  a  private  owner,  or,  if  the  single 
tax  on  land  should  be  carried  out,  he  must  pay  proportionately  more 

than  the  same  amount  in  the  form  of  a  tax  on  the  land  to  the  city  or 

16 


242 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


State  that  he  now  pays  to  a  private  person  for  rent  of  land.  He  is 
employed  by  a  capitalist  if  he  can  do  better  and  can  earn  more  by 
working  for  himself  than  for  the  capitalist,  so  that  he  gets  no  service 
from  the  capitalist,  he  need  not  pay  the  profit  of  $65  assigned  as  com¬ 
pensation  to  capital,  but  he  can  save  it  or  spend  it.  If  he  saves  that 
sum  himself  it  is  to  his  benefit.  If  by  working  for  the  capitalist  he 
makes  more  for  himself  than  the  $65  paid  by  him  for  the  service  of 
capital  comes  to,  then  he  may  gain  the  difference  by  working  for  a 
capitalist.  Capital  has  no  means  of  compelling  him  to  work  in  its 
service,  and  he  has  no  way  open  to  him  to  force  capital  to  work  for 
his  benefit  without  contributing  to  its  profit.  He  only  can  save  a  part 
of  his  taxes,  however  collected,  by  watching  the  expenditures  and 
voting  only  for  those  who  will  spend  the  public  revenues,  national, 
State,  or  city,  in  a  proper  way  for  the  common  benefit  of  the  whole 
people. 

The  quantity  of  materials  for  clothing  that  each  person  requires  for 
comfort  and  welfare  does  not  vary  greatly  whether  the  man  be  rich  or 
poor.  The  rich  man  may  possess  more  clothes  at  one  time  ;  but  he 
does  not  wear  them  out  so  fast  ;  the  workman  on  the  whole  wears  out 
more  clothes  than  the  rich  man  ;  the  difference,  however,  in  the  neces¬ 
sary  supply  of  clothing  is  not  great,  and  would  not  affect  the  general 
cost  of  living  to  any  very  great  extent.  The  average  expenditure  for 
fuel  and  oil  does  not  vary  in  any  great  measure,  and  this  element  of  the 
cost  of  living  is  not  large  ;  therefore  in  this  the  margin  for  economy  is 
not  great. 

With  respect  to  food,  each  average  person,  rich  or  poor,  absolutely 
requires  the  same  proportions  of  nitrogenized  substances,  starch,  and 
fat,  or  of  the  so-called  “  nutrients.”  Each  adult  person  requires  sub¬ 
stantially  the  same  quantity  of  food,  varying  a  little  with  the  work 
done  ;  the  man  who  is  engaged  at  hard  labor  requires  and  can  digest  a 
greater  quantity  than  the  rich  man.  In  quantity  rightly  consumed, 
therefore,  little  economy  or  saving  may  be  expected  or  desired  ;  the 
saving  is  to  be  made  by  right  selection  of  the  materials,  and  by  avoid¬ 
ing  waste  in  the  preparation  and  in  the  consumption  of  food.  In  this 
direction  there  is  a  very  large  margin  for  saving. 

The  greatest  inequalities  and  the  greatest  variation  in  the  condi¬ 
tions  of  men  are  to  be  found  in  their  dwelling-places  ;  it  is  for  this  rea¬ 
son  that  the  land  question  has  become  so  intimately  connected  with  the 
labor  question.  But  it  is  evident  that  whatever  theories  may  be  adopted 
by  the  state  in  granting  the  conditional  possession  of’ land  to  individ¬ 
uals,  there  must  be  a  certain  measure  of  private  occupancy,  namely, 
possession  or  use  of  land  for  a  dwelling-place.  Compensation  must 
then  be  made  to  some  authority  for  the  choice  or  selection  of  land, 
either  in  the  form  of  rent  or  in  the  form  of  taxes  upon  land  values. 


Remedies  for  Social  Ills. 


243 


The  selection  or  choice  and  the  possession  of  land  having  been  pro¬ 
vided  in  some  way,  the  occupant  must  then  either  be  capable  of  build¬ 
ing  his  own  house,  or  he  must  pay  some  one  else  to  build  it  ;  otherwise 
he  must  hire  a  house.  He  can  accomplish  neither  purpose  without  cost, 
and  he  can  accomplish  neither  without  subjecting  himself  to  a  charge 
for  the  service  of  capital,  unless  he  accepts  charity  and  is  housed  in  an 
almshouse. 

In  what  way  can  this  typical  family  improve  the  condition  of  its 
dwelling-place  ?  If  little  can  be  saved  on  the  proportionate  expendi¬ 
ture  either  for  clothing,  for  fuel,  for  light,  or  for  sundries,  and  if  some¬ 
thing,  however  small,  ought  to  be  set  aside  against  a  rainy  day,  does  it. 
not  follow  that  the  only  method  open  to  this  man  and  his  family  at  the 
present  time  for  improving  their  condition,  is  by  economy  in  the  purchase 
and  right  use  of  food  and  drink  ?  Is  it  not  true  that  better  results  can 
be  obtained — a  more  appetizing  quality  imparted  to  the  food,  and 
more  adequate  nutrition  derived — from  twenty  cents’  worth  of  food 
well-cooked,  than  from  twenty-five  cents’  worth  of  the  same  food 
cooked  and  served  as  it  commonly  is  ?  In  this  typical  family  $200 
a, year  has  been  assigned  either  to  the  payment  of  rent  or  to  the  rental 
value  of  the  land  and  dwelling  occupied.  Five  cents  a  day  saved  on  the 
food  of  each  member  would  amount  to  $109.50  a  year,  which  might  be 
converted  into  rent  or  rental  value.  If  a  part  of  the  members  of  the 
family  now  spend  a  sum  equal  to  four  cents  a  day  for  each  member  for 
liquor,  the  average  of  the  whole  country  for  liquor  and  tobacco  being 
over  four  cents  per  capita,  then  a  saving  of  one  half  of  this  sum  would 
come  to  $43.80,  which,  added  to  the  saving  on  food,  makes  $153.30. 
By  this  different  direction  or  expenditure  of  force,  the  amount  first 
assigned  to  providing  a  dwelling-place  could  be  increased  seventy-five 
per  cent.  The  $200  assigned  to  providing  shelter  in  some  way  would 
be  increased  to  $353.30  per  year.  Is  this  a  practicable  reform  ? 

When  the  attention  of  the  labor  reformer  is  brought  down  from 
glittering  generalities  and  grand  schemes  for  altering  the  whole  consti¬ 
tution  of  society  by  act  of  Congress  or  of  the  State  legislature,  to  the 
simple  question  of  how  each  person,  each  family,  or  each  community 
may  better  itself  under  existing  conditions,  great  progress  will  have 
been  made  in  solving  all  the  problems  which  are  now  pending.  The 
professional  agitator,  who  gets  his  living  by  misleading  the  uninformed, 
may  scout  at  personal  economy  and  ridicule  the  only  available  methods 
by  which  any  true  progress  can  be  made  in  leading  the  great  mass  of 
the  people  to  a  higher  plane  of  general  comfort  and  welfare.  It  does 
not  matter.  Whatever  may  be  the  temporary  influence  of  quacks,  sen¬ 
timentalists,  professional  agitators,  and  silly  novelists,  the  solid  common- 
sense  of  the  community  ultimately  controls  events,  and  in  a  rather  slow 
and  indirect  way  works  out  for  itself  its  own  methods  of  reform. 


244 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


In  each  presidential  election  the  orators  of  the  two  parties  have  for 
many  years  predicted  the  utter  ruin  of  this  country  unless  their  own 
side  should  prevail.  But  the  ruin  has  never  come — quite  the  reverse. 
Witness  the  figures  given  under  the  head  of  “  Progress  from  Poverty  ” 
in  one  of  the  preceding  articles.  For  a  time  it  seemed  possible  that 
a  few  unscrupulous  men,  whose  power  and  influence  rested  upon  human 
slavery,  might  succeed  in  their  nefarious  purpose  of  re-opening  the 
slave-trade  and  continuing  to  subject  the  whole  country  to  their  malig¬ 
nant  control,  but  even  they  utterly  failed  ;  the  principle  of  liberty, 
which  was  established  by  the  common  ancestors  of  those  who  dwell  in 
the  South  as  well  as  in  the  North,  was  too  strong  for  them.  None  are 
now  so  ready  to  admit  that  the  great  result  of  the  war  by  which  slavery 
destroyed  itself,  has  been  the  emancipation  of  the  white  man  through 
liberty  given  to  the  black  man.  Compared  to  this  destructive  force  of 
slavery,  by  which  the  product  of  the  whole  country  was  limited  and 
the  equitable  distribution  of  products  impeded,  there  is  no  material 
cause  of  danger  of  any  great  moment  now  existing.  We  have  already 
paid  two  thirds  of  the  national  debt,  and  by  the  application  of  science 
and  invention,  especially  to  the  railway  service,  it  has  been  paid  with¬ 
out  any  man  being  called  upon  to  work  harder  than  he  did  before  the 
debt  existed.  The  danger  point  in  our  system  of  currency  was  passed 
when  President  Grant  vetoed  the  inflation  bill.  Whether  we  will  or 
not,  the  currency  of  the  United  States  may  soon  be  sustained  by  specie, 
dollar  for  dollar,  through  the  liquidation  of  the  demand  debt,  now  rep¬ 
resented  by  legal-tender  notes,  as  these  notes  fall  in  by  way  of  taxation. 

The  most  important  question  now  pending  relates  to  the  right 
method  of  raising  that  part  of  the  national  revenue  which  for  a  long 
period  must  be  derived  from  duties  on  imports.  This  is  one  of  the 
minor  questions,  very  important  in  its  place,  but  probably  not  of  the 
grave  importance  customarily  attributed  to  it.  The  country  will 
prosper,  however  the  taxes  may  be  collected.  What  the  moral  effect  of 
a  bad  method  of  raising  the  national  debt  may  be,  it  is  not  the  present 
purpose  of  the  writer  to  treat.  When  the  most  important  question  in 
a  country  is  how  to  reduce  its  taxes  to  the  level  of  its  expenditures,  the 
country  cannot  be  very  hard  pressed. 

The  continental  system  of  absolute  free  trade,  which  exists  among 
the  States  of  our  Union  over  a  larger  area  and  among  a  greater  number 
of  people  than  are  now  enjoying  or  were  ever  permitted  to  enjoy  it 
elsewhere,  renders  our  foreign  commerce  relatively  unimportant.  The 
real  force  that  governs  this  country  is  more  powerful  than  any  Congress 
or  system  of  legislation.  That  force  may  be  obstructed  by  bad  statutes, 
or  may  be  made  to  work  more  rapidly  by  wise  political  methods  ;  in 
the  end,  however,  it  holds  its  sway.  That  force  is  the  solid  common- 
sense  and  enlightened  self-interest  of  the  whole  community. 


Remedies  for  Social  Ills. 


245 


I  have  endeavored  in  various  essays  to  present  a  true  picture  of  the 
gain  in  individual  wealth  and  in  the  means  of  common  welfare  in  the 
few  years  which  have  elapsed  since  the  nation  proved  true  to  the 
principle  of  personal  liberty  on  which  it  was  founded  ;  I  have  also 
endeavored  to  show  that  material  abundance  is  well  assured  to  all  who 
choose  to  meet  the  conditions  which  will  entitle  them  to  share  it. 
There  are  other  dangers  which  may  not  be  rightly  or  fully  treated  in 
this  essay.  Having  cast  out  one  devil,  there  may  be  a  danger  that  we 
shall  admit  seven  others  by  whom  our  personal  liberty  may  be  restricted 
or  taken  from  us.  Legislation,  whose  true  purpose  should  be  only  to 
promote  justice  and  to  give  equal  opportunity  to  every  one,  may  be 
perverted  so  as  to  bring  about  an  unjust  distribution  of  the  means  of 
subsistence,  and  to  deprive  great  bodies  of  men  and  women  of  equal 
opportunity  to  attain  their  common  welfare.  On  the  one  side  the 
national  Congress  may  continue  its  attempt  to  obstruct  our  foreign 
commerce  by  one  set  of  statutes,  and  may  render  the  domestic  traffic 
over  our  railways  more  costly  than  it  need  be  by  other  statutes.  State 
legislators  may  continue  to  limit  the  power  of  adults  in  the  disposal  of 
their  own  time — the  only  element  in  life  that  all  might  enjoy  in  corn- 
mon  except  for  such  restrictions. 

Yet  more  subtle  restrictions  upon  individual  liberty,  affecting  all 
the  methods  of  production  and  distribution,  may  continue  to  be  im¬ 
posed  by  secret  societies.  The  man  who  chooses  to  maintain  his  own 
liberty  and  to  make  his  own  contracts  in  his  own  way,  may  for  a  time 
be  denounced  as  a  “  scab  ”  j  but  even  as  the  obnoxious  title  of  Yankee 
applied  by  the  British  troops,  has  been  assumed  by  the  people  of  New 
England  as  one  to  be  proud  of,  so  the  workman  who  maintains  his  own 
personal  liberty  may  presently  assume  the  title  of  scab  as  a  true  testi¬ 
monial  to  his  right  position  and  true  evidence  of  the  method  by  which 
he  has  attained  the  advantage  of  position  without  harm,  but  to  the 
benefit  of  his  fellow-workmen.  The  effect  of  these  various  restrictions 
upon  personal  liberty  may  be  to  prevent  the  abundance  of  the  means 
of  subsistence  becoming  as  ample  as  it  might  be,  and  may  continue  to 
take  from  the  many  a  part  of  the  fruits  of  their  labor  for  the  benefit 
of  the  few.  Yet  this  country  has  been  endowed  with  such  abundant 
resources  that  we  shall  continue  to  thrive  in  spite  of  the  blunders  of 
legislators  and  the  interference  of  labor  associations,  whose  objects 
may  be  as  right  as  their  methods  of  attaining  them  are  wrong. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  has  never  been  a  period  in  the  history  of 
any  country  when  so  much  attention  has  been  given  to  the  study  of  the 
forces  which  make  for  abundance  and  welfare.  Before  many  years  it 
may  become  apparent  to  all  that  the  only  way  to  raise  the  general 
standard  of  living  and  to  benefit  the  community  as  a  whole,  is  to  de¬ 
velop  the  personal  character  and  capacity  of  each  and  every  member  of 


246 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


it.  The  primary  source  of  all  wealth  is  in  the  manual  and  mechanical 
work  done  by  the  many  under  the  mental  direction  of  the  few  by  whom 
all  are  served.  The  stream  cannot  rise  higher  than  its  source,  and  if 
the  many  remain  ignorant  and  incapable  of  taking  advantage  of  the 
opportunities  which  science  and  invention  have  placed  at  their  com¬ 
mand  for  developing  the  products  of  our  mother-earth  in  ever- 
increasing  measure,  then  even  a  low  standard  of  subsistence  may  with 
difficulty  be  attained,  and  the  hardships  to  which  many  may  still  be 
subjected  will  continue  to  be  imposed  upon  them  by  their  own  inca¬ 
pacity.  The  mind  of  man  is  the  potent  factor  in  material  production  ; 
character  counts  for  more  than  capital  in  getting  a  living.  He  lives 
best,  even  in  a  material  sense,  and  he  earns  the  most  leisure  for  him¬ 
self,  who,  by  the  use  either  of  his  brain  or  his  capital,  while  serving 
himself  at  the  same  time  raises  the  earnings  of  the  workman  to  the 
highest  point  by  reducing  the  cost  of  production  to  the  lowest.  The 
dollars  of  the  gain  which  the  capitalist  earns  under  these  conditions  are 
but  a  tithe  upon  the  service  which  he  has  rendered  to  all. 

The  open  secret  which  few  yet  seem  to  comprehend,  although  all 
act  consistently  with  it  unless  restricted  by  statute  or  by  trade  by-law, 
is  that  not  only  the  individual  wealth  but  the  common  welfare  of  men 
and  of  nations,  are  attained  in  most  ample  measure  through  inter¬ 
dependence  and  not  through  independence. 


i 


THEORY  AND  PRACTICE. 

SUPPLEMENT  TO  NO.  IO  OF  THE  “  FORUM  ”  SERIES. 

HAVING  been  led  through  devious  ways  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  greatest  gain  which  can  now  be  secured  to  society  as  a 
whole,  is  not  by  legislation,  not  even  by  remission  of  taxes, 
not  even  by  saving  a  considerable  part  of  the  absurd  waste  by  fire,  but 
by  teaching  society  as  a  whole  how  to  prepareJApd  in  the  process  of 
cooking  after  the  food  has  been  provided,  it  would  seem  as  if  this 
series  of  articles  would  be  incomplete  VudTToITt  a  treatise  in  which  the 
practical  application  of  the  theories  presented  may  be  made  and  a 
remedy  suggested. 

One  of  the  greatest  embarrassments  even  to  one  who  may  have  been 
called  in  early  years  to  practise  close  economy  in  the  art  of  living,  but 
who  is  no  longer  under  any  absolute  necessity  to  do  so,  is  to  meet  the 
rejoinders  of  working  men  to  whom  he  attempts  to  give  any  informa¬ 
tion,  somewhat  in  the  following  form  : 

“  We  cannot  look  forward  to  any  great  change  in  our  condition  ;  we  have  been  too 
long  devoted  to  one  kind  of  work  in  one  department  to  see  much  chance  for  progress  ; 
we  do  not  want  to  be  lifted  out  of  our  present  sphere  and  separated  from  our  fellow 
workmen,  and  we  could  not  be  if  we  would,  it  is  too  late  ;  we  must  stay  where  we  are  ; 
and  we  are  in  some  danger  even  of  having  our  own  special  work  invented  out  of  exist- 
tence  by  some  new  machine  or  other  ;  we  can  barely  make  both  ends  meet  at  the  end 
of  the  year  as  things  now  are  ;  it  is  all  very  well  for  you  to  talk  about  economy,  you 
have  two  or  three  big  rooms  for  each  member  of  your  family  ;  we  have  only  one  little 
room  for  every  two  or  three  members  of  our  families,  and  we  are  so  crowded  now  that 
we  jostle  each  other  ;  yet  we  must  go  on  in  the  old  way,  and  we  must  stand  by  each 
other  in  our  own  trade  and  try  to  get  all  we  can.  All  you  tell  us  may  do  very  well  for 
one  who  can  wait,  and  who  can  choose  what  his  work  shall  be.  We  can  neither  wait 
nor  choose  ;  here  we  are,  and  here  we  must  stay  whether  we  want  to  or  not.  If  you 
think  any  one  can  live  on  ten  cents’  worth  of  food  a  day,  try  it  yourself  if  you  want  to. 
We  don’t  want  to,  we  don’t  mean  to,  and  we  can’t  afford  to.  We  have  n’t  much  time, 
and  we  must  buy  food  that  can  be  cooked  quickly.” 

Underneath  this  very  honest  statement  of  the  difficulties  of  life 
there  is  also  often  an  undercurrent  which  crops  out,  somewhat  in  this 

'  •  <  .  '  *  \  '  t  ’  *  •  ;  l  .  .  V  .♦  V 

form  : 

“  We  work  for  all  that  you  get  as  well  as  for  what  we  get  ourselves,  why  should  n’t 
we  have  as  good  food  as  you  do  ?  ” 


247 


248 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation < 


If  the  capitalist  did  not  add  more  than  he  takes  away  from  the 
common  stock,  there  would  be  more  force  in  these  objections  ;  the 
great  difficulty  is  in  bringing  about  a  right  understanding  among  the 
different  classes  of  society  ;  as  I  have  said  in  one  of  the  previous 
essays,  the  one  thing  most  needful  is  for  the  rich  man  to  learn  how  the 
poor  man  lives,  and  for  the  poor  man  to  learn  how  the  rich  man  works. 

There  is  but  one  reply  to  this  sort  of  rejoinder  of  the  workmen. 
All  that  can  be  said  to  them  is  this  : 

“  If  you  do  not  learn  how  to  get  the  most  comfort  out  of  what  you  now  earn,  there 
will  certainly  be  very  little  chance  that  you  will  ever  learn  how  to  earn  any  more.  The 
only  way  to  a  condition  m  life  in  which  you  may  be  able  to  spend  twice  as  much  as  is 
necessary  for  food  for  every  day,  is  to  learn  how  to  get  as  much  as  you  can  out  of  the 
money  that  you  can  now  afford  to  spend.  If  you  want  to  be  able  to  spend  fifty  cents 
a  day,  the  way  to  it  is  to  learn  how  to  live  on  ten  cents’  worth  of  food  a  day.  If  you 
are  crowded  together  because  you  cannot  afford  to  own  or  to  hire  a  good  house,  and 
yet  spend  twice  as  much  for  food  as  you  need  to,  would  n’t  it  be  better  to  save  one 
half  the  cost  of  food  if  you  can,  and  yet  get  as  much  comfort  out  of  what  you  do  spend 
as  you  now  do,  and  then  spend  twice  as  much  for  a  dwelling-house.” 

The  average  rent  of  the  workman  is  seldom  more  than  one  third  to 
one  half  the  cost  of  the  materials  for  food.  If  the  workman  can  save 
one  third  to  one  half  the  cost  of  the  materials  for  food  and  yet  be  bet¬ 
ter  nourished,  he  can  then  improve  his  dwelling-place  in  just  that 
measure.  A  man  who  knows  just  how  to  do  it,  and  who  chooses  to 
give  the  time  which  is  necessary  to  the  food  question,  can  without  a 
doubt  maintain  himself  in  vigorous  health  and  strength  on  ten  cents’ 
worth  of  food  a  day  ;  but  there  are  probably  very  few  persons  who  can 
afford  to  do  so  ;  it  may  cost  more  in  time  and  trouble  to  live  on  ten 
cents  a  day  than  it  does  to  spend  twenty  cents  ;  most  people  had  rather 
spend  more  than  ten  cents  a  day  if  they  have  it  to  spend,  and  get 
more  variety  of  food  for  their  money  ;  but  the  great  misfortune  is  that 
most  working  people  spend  twenty  or  thirty  cents  a  day  for  their  food 
and  do  not  get  over  ten  cents’  worth  of  satisfaction  or  nourishment 
out  of  it  because  they  put  good  materials  to  a  very  poor  use.  In  order 
to  enable  those  who  choose  to  save  a  part  of  the  waste  of  food,  the 
writer  has  attempted  to  put  his  own  theories  into  practice,  and  in  the 
following  article,  which  is  reprinted  from  the  June  number  of  Lend  a 
Hand ,  he  has  attempted  to  tell  how  to  do  it. 

There  is  one  satisfaction  in  the  invention  of  the  ovens  referred  to 
in  this  article  ;  if  their  use  may  not  improve  the  condition  of  the  poor, 
it  may  at  least  greatly  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  rich.  If  the 
ovens  which  are  described  are  used  under  the  direction  of  a  person 
of  moderate  intelligence,  it  is  almost  impossible  even  for  a  poor  cook 
to  spoil  good  food  ;  again  those  who  do  not  wish  to  have  a  hot 
kitchen,  especially  in  summer,  may  cook  their  own  dinners  in  a  cool 
dining-room  without  altering  the  temperature  by  more  than  one  degree. 


Theory  and  Practice . 


249 


The  information  is  offered  for  whatever  it  may  be  worth  ;  and  this 
chapter  forms  a  fit  conclusion  to  a  series  of  articles  in  which  the  ruling 
idea  has  been  that  every  man  makes  his  own  rate  of  wages  by  the 
amount  of  intelligence  that  he  puts  into  the  work  that  he  is  called  upon 
to  do.  This  rule  works  both  in  the  earning  and  in  the  spending  of  the 
wages.1 

1  See  page  339,  “  The  Missing  Science.” 


) 


! 

,  ■  /  . 

-  / 


/  ' 


.<7i  ■  ■'  fP  7  m 


••  ■  .  '  ■■  v  •  '  •  .  :  l  ■ 


r  '  '  .  ■  ■  ■  ■  ■ ; 


WHAT  SHALL  BE  TAXED  ?  WHAT  SHALL 

BE  EXEMPT  ? 


WHAT  SHALL  BE  TAXED?  WHAT  SHALL  BE 

EXEMPT? 

WHILE  revising  the  foregoing  series  of  articles,  which  were  first 
printed  in  The  Forum ,  for  republication  in  book  form,  I 
have  been  reminded  that  my  treatment  of  the  subject  of 
protection  and  free  trade  has  been  subjected  to  adverse  criticism  by 
the  advocates  of  both  lines  of  policy.  That  might  be  held  to  prove 
that  I  had  at  least  succeeded  in  part  in  what  I  had  undertaken  to  do 
through  the  medium  of  the  magazines,  viz.,  to  incite  an  intelligent  dis¬ 
cussion  of  the  tariff  and  other  economic  questions,  in  place  of  the  com¬ 
mon  vituperative  method  Which  is  so  customary  among  those  who  may 
have  no  intelligent  basis  for  what  they  call  their  opinions,  and  who  are 
therefore  accustomed  to  cover  their  real  want  of  any  knowledge  of  the 
subject  by  imputing  ignorance  or  bad  motives  to  their  opponents  on 
either  side  of  the  question. 

There  is  now  no  difference  of  opinion  among  the  intelligent  advo¬ 
cates  of  protection  and  the  reasonable  advocates  of  freer  trade  at  pres¬ 
ent  leading  up  to  actual  free  trade  in  the  future,  as  to  the  final  pur¬ 
pose  to  which  all  legislation  ought  now  to  be  directed.  That  objective 
point  is  the  establishment  of  a  system  of  commerce  with  other  nations 
which  shall  ultimately  be  as  free  from  taxation  under  the  form  of  a 
tariff  of  duties  on  imports,  as  the  necessity  of  the  nation  for  a  revenue 
from  such  duties  will  permit  ;  such  point  to  be  attained  as  soon  as  the 
conditions  precedent  can  be  established  which  will  admit  such  objective 
point  being  reached. 

Both  sides,  therefore,  seek  the  same  end,  differing  only  as  to  time 
and  method,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  persons  who  advocate  na¬ 
tional  isolation  by  means  of  “  a  tariff  for  protection  with  incidental 
revenue.”  They  are,  however,  so  few  in  number,  and  of  such  feeble 
influence  intellectually,  that  they  need  not  be  considered  by  those  who 
treat  the  subject  seriously  and  who  are  free  from  mere  partisan  bias. 

The  main  difference  between  the  advocates  of  protection  and  free 
trade  at  the  present  date  is  upon  the  question  of  time  and  method  in 
reducing  the  present  tariff,  and  in  regard  to  the  subjects  from  which 
the  present  excess  of  taxation  shall  be  first  removed.  The  difference 

253 


254 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


is  therefore  one  of  detail,  both  seeking  to  promote  domestic  industry  in 
the  most  effective  manner  known  to  them.  Cannot  an  agreement  be 
reached  under  such  conditions  ? 

The  basis  of  the  protective  theory  among  those  who  intelligently 
and  reasonably  sustain  it  is  this  : 

ist.  It  has  been  held  by  them  that  a  nation  should  develop  within 
its  own  limits  the  power  or  ability  to  supply  itself  with  the  necessaries 
of  life  without  recourse  to  imports  from  other  countries. 

This  view  has  been  very  urgently  sustained  in  respect  to  articles 
which  are  necessary  not  only  in  time  of  peace,  but  which  are  even  more 
urgently  required  in  time  of  war  ;  the  absolute  requirements  of  war  be¬ 
ing  food,  clothing,  and  arms,  i.  e.,  fabrics  made  of  wool,  iron,  and  steel. 

2d.  It  has  been  or  is  held,  that  even  aside  from  the  necessities  of 
war,  a  nation  should  render  itself  independent  of  all  others,  and  should 
become  capable  of  supplying  itself  with  all  the  necessaries  of  life,  if  the 
crude  materials  for  such  supply  exist  within  the  limits  of  its  territory 
and  can  be  worked,  either  in  the  soil,  the  mine,  or  the  forest. 

3d.  It  is  held  that  in  developing  the  processes  for  converting  these 
crude  materials  into  their  final  forms  ready  for  consumption,  a  great 
diversity  of  occupation  may  be  promoted  ;  and  that  while  free  trade 
may  be  the  true  objective  point,  it  cannot  be  adopted  safely  until  such 
conditions  precedent  have  been  established  as  may  enable  the  domestic 
manufacturers  or  converters  of  crude  materials  into  finished  goods  to 
compete  with  foreign  countries  on  even  terms. 

4th.  Lastly,  it  is  now  held  by  the  advocates  of  protection,  that  in 
consequence  of  the  higher  rates  of  wages  which  prevail  in  this  country 
as  compared  to  foreign  countries  in  certain  specific  arts,  we  cannot 
yet  compete  with  foreign  countries  in  these  arts,  if  the  free-trade  policy 
should  now  be  adopted.  In  support  of  this  proposition,  it  is  held  that 
the  rates  of  wages  are  a  true  standard  by  which  the  cost  of  goods  may 
be  compared. 

In  addition  to  these  principal  reasons  for  placing  duties  on  foreign 
imports  at  higher  rates  than  those  which  would  yield  the  largest  reve¬ 
nue  at  the  lowest  rates  on  selected  subjects  of  taxation  which  are  not 
of  necessary  use  in  domestic  industry,  it  has  been  held  that  by  means 
of  such  duties  or  under  the  protective  system,  so-called,  additional 
work  may  be  provided  for  the  people  of  a  given  nation,  through  the  di¬ 
versity  of  occupations  supposed  to  be  greatly  promoted  by  this  system. 

In  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter,  it  has  been  and  is  held,  that  al¬ 
though  the  first  effect  of  placing  protective  duties  on  foreign  imports 
must  be  to  keep  the  prices  both  of  the  domestic  product  and  of  the 
foreign  import  of  like  kind,  higher  than  they  would  be  except  for  such 
duties,  yet  the  ultimate  effect  of  the  system  must  be  to  reduce  such 
prices  and  to  furnish  a  greater  abundance  to  consumers  at  less  cost. 


What  Shall  be  Taxed  ?  What  Shall  be  Exempt  ?  255 

This  is  the  principal  justification  of  the  system  in  the  minds  of  those 
who  sustain  it,  to  wit,  that  at  the  cost  of  a  temporary  higher  price, 
lower  prices  will  be  finally  attained. 

Such  is,  I  think,  a  fair  statement  of  the  argument  for  what  is  called 
protection  to  domestic  industry  by  way  of  the  imposition  of  taxes  on 
foreign  imports,  commonly  called  duties. 

It  is  also  held  by  a  few  persons,  even  some  holding  quite  conspicu¬ 
ous  positions,  that  by  way  of  duties  on  imports  foreign  nations  may  be 
made  to  pay  revenue  to  this  country.  Such  an  argument  hardly  calls 
for  serious  consideration,  as  it  could  never  be  put  forward  by  any  one 
conversant  with  commerce.  It  is  based  on  the  admitted  fact  that,  if 
the  duties  imposed  should  so  obstruct  our  demand  upon  a  foreign 
country  for  a  given  article,  this  obstruction,  in  place  of  raising  the  price 
at  home,  may  depress  the  price  abroad,  and  this  depression  of  price  is 
said  to  be  the  same  as  putting  our  tax  upon  other  people  !  In  point  of 
fact  this  lowering  of  foreign  prices  is  one  of  the  most  injurious  effects 
of  a  mistaken  policy,  especially  when  it  affects  the  crude  or  partly  man¬ 
ufactured  articles  which  are  used  in  the  mechanical  and  manufacturing 
arts,  as  it  gives  the  foreign  manufacturer  an  advantage  over  our  own 
which  cannot  be  overcome.  See  the  subsequent  figures  on  iron  and  steel. 

One  may  not  hastily  and  dogmatically  pronounce  all  these  proposi¬ 
tions  to  be  without  any  foundation  ;  and  it  is  both  useless  and  mis¬ 
chievous  to  denounce  those  who  present  such  views  as  being  mere 
spoliators,  or  to  say  that  they  are  striving  as  a  body  to  support 
themselves  and  those  whom  they  employ  at  the  cost  of  their  neighbors, 
without  rendering  any  true  service  in  return.  These  views  have  been, 
and  are  now,  held  in  perfect  sincerity  and  integrity  by  many  of  the 
most  upright  citizens  in  this  country  ;  they  are  still  believed  to  be 
sound  by  a  very  large  number  of  intelligent  men,  who  sustain  them 
without  any  other  purpose  than  because  they  fully  believe  that  the 
welfare  of  the  nation  depends  upon  their  being  sustained. 

Unquestionably  there  are  among  the  supporters  of  protection  many 
persons  whose  own  interests  g,re  to  themselves  so  paramount  in  the 
matter — or  are  believed  by  them  to  be  so  paramount  in  their  relation 
to  others, — as  to  obscure  all  consideration  of  the  public  welfare  ;  as 
there  are  also,  on  the  other  side,  advocates  of  free  trade  who  would 
break  down  all  barriers  to  immediate  free  exchange  without  any  refer¬ 
ence  to  the  long  period  during  which  protective  duties  have  been 
maintained,  and  without  any  consideration  of  the  great  harm  that 
may  arise  from  bad  methods  of  abating  what  may  even  be  an  existing 
evil.  With  such  intolerant  and  illogical  persons,  who  give  little  or  no 
consideration  to  existing  conditions,  no  discussion  is  possible. 

The  writer  was  bred- in  the  firm  conviction  that,  for  the  reasons 
given,  the  protective  system  was  founded  on  principle  and  on  facts. 


256 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


and  that  protection  was  necessary  to  the  welfare  of  the  country.  It 
has  only  been  by  close  observation  of  the  facts  of  life  that  he  gradually 
became  convinced  that  these  arguments  for  the  so-called  system  of 
protection  were  not  founded  on  any  principle  and  cannot  be  justified 
at  the  present  time  even  on  the  ground  of  expediency.  The  arguments 
should  be  met,  however  by  a  fair  and  full  consideration  of  the  facts 
and  the  influences  which  led  to  the  adoption  of  the  policy  in  the  past, 
and  of  the  conditions  as  they  exist  at  present,  changed  as  they  have 
been  in  some  measure  by  past  acts. 

It  may  be  admitted  that  by  force  of  the  highly  protective  system  as 
it  now  exists  in  this  country,  and  as  it  has  been  in  force  practically 
since  the  years  1861  and  1863,  certain  arts  have  been  more  fully 
developed,  certain  products  have  been  increased,  and  certain  prices 
may  have  been  reduced  both  here  and  in  other  countries  through  the 
effect  and  in  consequence  of  this  system.  It  may  even  be  admitted  that 
in  respect  to  certain  very  important  commodities — notably  iron  and 
steel, — the  actual  prices  have  been  reduced  both  here  and  in  other 
countries  more  rapidly,  and  possibly  to  a  lower  point,  than  they  would 
have  been,  except  the  protective  system  had  been  in  force  in  this 
country.  It  must  be  admitted  that  as  a  consequence  of  the  high  duties 
upon  wool,  the  price  of  domestic  wool  has  been  reduced  by  force  of 
protection  to  a  lower  point  than  it  would  have  attained  except  under 
this  system  ;  and  that  wool  growers  have  been  misled  in  their  expecta¬ 
tion  even  of  temporary  benefit  to  themselves.  There  may  be  other 
articles  which  have  been  affected  in  the  same  way. 

All  that  can  be  said  in  rejoinder  to  this  possible  admission  of  the 
claims  made  on  behalf  of  protection  is,  that  any  reduction  of  prices 
which  has  been,  or  may  be  brought  about  in  this  way  is  not  worth  what 
it  costs  ;  and  that  during  the  longer  or  shorter  period  given  to  the 
operation  of  this  method  of  securing  a  reduction  in  the  actual  price  of 
an  important  material,  such  a  disparity  or  difference  in  price  has  been 
maintained  throughout  this  period  of  high  protection  in  the  cost  of  the 
crude  materials — such  as  wool,  iron,  steel,  and  chemicals,— which  are 
most  necessary  in  the  processes  of  our  domestic  industry,  as  compared 
to  the  cost  of  these  same  materials  to  the  consumers  of  other  countries, 
as  to  have  made  the  cost  of  the  protective  system  much  greater  than 
the  benefit,  if  any  benefit  there  has  been  to  any  one. 

In  other  words,  whatever  may  be  the  advantage  or  the  disadvantage 
of  a  reduction  in  price,  if  it  has  been  brought  about  by  or  through  the 
interference  of  legislation,  the  disadvantage  of  being  subjected  to 
higher  prices  in  this  country  as  compared  to  prices  elsewhere  through 
a  long  period,  on  the  most  important  crude  materials  which  are  abso¬ 
lutely  necessary  in  all  branches  of  domestic  industry,  has  been  and  is 
much  greater  than  any  possible  benefit  arising  from  lower  absolute 
prices  of  such  materials  at  a  later  period. 


What  Shall  be  Taxed?  What  Shall  be  Exempt?  257 

In  the  competition  of  nations,  it  is  the  relative  price  that  tells  and 
gives  supremacy  at  a  given  time,  whatever  the  actual  price  may  be. 

For  instance,  iron  and  steel  are  the  most  necessary  metals  ;  they  lie 
at  the  foundation  of  all  production  and  distribution  ;  their  consumption 
is  the  most  adequate  standard  by  which  to  measure  the  progress  of  any 
nation  ;  but  their  production  is  one  of  the  most  undesirable  occupa¬ 
tions,  which  fortunately  requires  but  a  small  fraction  of  the  population 
to  be  devoted  to  it. 

In  1 880  less  than  one  hundred  thousand  men  and  boys  produced 
about  four  million  tons  of  pig-iron  in  the  United  States.  At  the 
present  time,  such  have  been  the  improvements  in  the  method  and 
the  reduction  in  the  necessary  work,  that  it  may  be  computed  that 
not  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  to  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  thousand,  out  of  twenty  to  twenty-one  million  persons  now  occupied 
for  gain,  are  required  to  serve  our  present  population  with  over  seven 
million  tons  of  iron. 

Reference  has  already  been  made  in  a  foot-note  to  one  of  the  pre¬ 
ceding  articles,  to  the  fact  that  while  we  have  consumed  during  the  last 
ten  years  very  nearly  thirty  per  cent,  of  the  entire  product  of  the  iron 
and  steel  of  the  world,  and  during  the  last  two  years  nearly  forty  per 
cent.,  yet  although  the  actual  prices  of  these  metals  have  during  this 
very  period  been  greatly  reduced,  our  consumers  have  paid  fifty-six 
million  dollars  a  year  on  the  average  more  than  their  competitors,  or 
five  hundred  and  sixty  million  dollars  in  all  in  ten  years  (1878-1887), 
for  iron  and  steel,  according  to  compilations  which  are  given  by 
Mr.  David  A.  Wells  in  his  forthcoming  work.  Such  has  been  the 
cost  of  protection.  For  the  last  two  or  three  years  we  have  paid 
more  than  seventy  million  dollars  a  year  over  and  above  the  price 
paid  for  these  crude  materials  by  consumers  in  Great  Britain  in  this 
single  branch  of  industry.  Hence  it  follows  that  if  it  should  be 
claimed  and  allowed  that  this  is  the  right  way  to  establish  and  main¬ 
tain  the  production  of  crude  iron  and  steel  in  this  country,  it  must  also 
be  admitted  that  it  has  been  accomplished  at  a  cost  measured  by  this 
disparity  in  price,  of  five  hundred  and  sixty  million  dollars  in  ten 
years — which  is  more  than  all  the  capital  now  invested  in  all  the  iron- 
mines,  blast-furnaces,  steel-works,  and  rolling-mills  combined  which 
are  now  in  existence  in  this  country.  Had  it  not  been  for  this  dis¬ 
parity  in  price  working  constantly  to  the  disadvantage  of  this  country, 
no  matter  what  the  actual  price  of  iron  and  steel  may  have  been  in 
any  one  year,  can  it  be  doubted  that  our  consumption  of  iron  and  steel 
in  the  manufacture  of  ships,  rails,  machinery,  locomotives,  and  tools 
and  wares  of  every  description  would  have  been  vastly  greater  than  it 
has  been  ?  Is  it  not  true  that  we  have  failed  to  retain  even  the  control 
•of  our  own  markets  in  respect  to  manufactures  and  machinery  made 


258  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 

of  iron  and  steel,  while  we  have  been  almost  wholly  forbidden  any 
share  in  the  supply  of  other  countries  ?  Have  we  not  protected  the 
consumers  of  iron  and  steel, — or  the  manufacturers  who  use  crude 
iron  and  steel’  in  other  countries, — to  the  disadvantage  of  our  own, 
and  must  not  this  disparity  in  price  be  charged  to  the  cost  of  develop¬ 
ing  our  domestic  iron-mines,  works,  and  rolling-mills  by  way  of 
special  taxes  on  imports  imposed  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  them  ? 

If  there  has  been  something  added  to  the  occupation  of  the  people 
underground  and  in  these  furnaces  and  rolling-mills,  has  there  not 
been  even  more  taken  away  from  the  occupations  of  the  people  upon 
the  farm,  in  the  factories,  the  workshops,  and  the  ship-yards  of  the 
country,  whose  products  might  have  been  exchanged  for  these  crude 
materials  ?  Lest  these  figures  should  be  questioned,  I  will  give  the 
proofs  and  cite  the  authority.  See  special  treatment  of  this  subject 
subsequently  given. 

Have  we  not  protected  the  woolen  manufacturers  of  other  coun¬ 
tries  rather  than  our  own,  by  forcing  the  huge  supply  of  wools  from 
Australia,  from  South  America,  and  from  other  parts  of  the  world 
upon  them  in  exchange  for  their  fabrics,  thus  lowering  prices  to  them 
by  withholding  our  own  free  competition,  while  depriving  our  own 

consumers  of  these  varieties  of  wool  without  which  our  manufacturers 

6 

of  woolen  and  worsted  fabrics  cannot  thrive  ?  Have  not  these  duties 
on  crude  materials  prevented  us  from  holding  even  the  home  market 
in  this  country  for  our  manufactured  goods,  although  the  people  con¬ 
sume  more  fabrics  made  of  iron,  wool,  and  cotton  than  the  people  of 
any  other  country  ? 

At  this  very  moment  (May,  1889)  it  is  alleged  that  through  the 
consolidation  of  several  steel-works  in  the  West  the  making  of  tin 
plate  may  be  taken  up  ;  and  a  desperate  effort  has  been  made  to 
double  the  tax  of  about  six  million  dollars  that  the  people  of  this  country 
now  pay  on  tin  plate  imported,  in  order  to  sustain  domestic  industry 
in  making  these  plates.  Hardly  an  article  could  be  named  upon  which 
a  tax  could  be  placed  with  more  injurious  effect  than  upon  tin  plates. 
They  are  articles  of  common  necessity  in  the  dairy,  in  the  work  of 
canning  meats,  fish,  vegetables,  and  fruits,  and  they  enter  into  all  the 
domestic  arts  of  life.  To  the  extent  to  which  they  may  be  taxed  the 
farmers  of  this  country  are  placed  at  a  disadvantage  in  saving  their 
crops  or  products  by  canning  them.  In  answer  to  the  question, 
“  What  are  the  most  notable  consequences  that  would  follow  the 
establishment  of  this  industry  in  America  ?  ”  the  answer  has  lately 
been  given  by  the  promoters  of  this  enterprise,  that  if  this  industry 
were  established  here,  “  we  should  keep  among  our  own  inhabitants 
from  twenty  to  twenty-five  million  dollars  a  year,  a  constantly  increas¬ 
ing  amount,  which  we  now  send  abroad  the  moment  we  can  supply 


What  Shall  be  Taxed?  What  Shall  be  Exempt?  259 

our  own  demand.”  This  statement  is  one  of  the  glittering  generalities 
which  may  deceive  even  the  elect  ;  it  is  alleged  that  we  should  keep 
among  our  own  inhabitants  a  certain  number  of  dollars  ;  but  this  is 
not  the  fact  ;  we  do  not  buy  our  tin  plates  with  dollars  made 
of  either  gold  or  silver  ;  and  if  we  did,  it  would  be  because  we  can 
produce  more  gold  and  silver  dollars  than  we  need  for  our  exchanges. 
We  buy  our  tin  plates  with  the  pounds  sterling  which  are  placed  at  the 
credit  of  the  exporters  of  our  corn,  wheat,  flour,  cheese,  cotton,  oil, 
and  other  products  which  we  cannot  consume  at  home  and  which  are 
exported.  We  pay  for  tin  plates  with  the  excess  of  our  food,  fibres, 
and  oils.  These  products  go  to  supply  the  people  of  other  countries 
with  the  necessary  articles  of  food  and  fibres  which  we  produce  at 
high  wages  and  yet  at  lower  cost  than  any  other  country.  If  we  cut 
off  the  imports  of  twenty-five  million  dollars’  worth  of  tin  plates  we 
also  cut  off  the  export  of  twenty-five  million  dollars’  worth  of  wheat, 
corn,  cotton,  cheese,  and  other  farm  products.  If  the  production  of 
tin  plate  would  give  employment  to  as  large  a  number  of  consumers 
within  our  own  limits  as  now  buy  this,  excess  of  our  product  which  is 
exported,  our  farmers  might  not  feel  the  difference.  But  would  such 
be  the  fact  ?  The  production  of  tin  plate  is  very  largely  a  matter  of 
capital,  and  in  moderate  extent  and  in  small  numbers  a  matter  of  rather 
low-grade  labor,  while  that  labor  is  of  such  a  kind  that  there  are  none 
capable  and  few  willing  to  do  the  kind  of  work  which  is  necessary  to 
be  done  in  order  to  produce  tin  plates  here.  The  production  of  tin 
plates  here  would  imply  the  application  of  a  large  amount  of  capital, 
and  the  importation  of  a  moderate  number  of  laborers  skilled  in 
the  art,  who  must  yet  be  a  somewhat  low-priced  quality  of  work¬ 
men,  as  no  part  of  the  work  is  a  very  desirable  one  to  follow. 
Hence  it  might  follow  that  the  farmers  who  now  supply  food  and 
fibres  in  exchange  for  foreign  tin  plates  would  lose  a  part  of  their 
large  market  abroad,  and  would  fail  to  gain  in  the  domestic  consump¬ 
tion  of  their  produce  in  any  equal  measure.  Should  we  then  save 
twenty  to  twenty-five  million  dollars  now  said  to  be  sent  abroad  for 
tin  plates,  or  should  we  not  lose  at  least  one  half  that  sum  in  our 
restricted  market  for  our  surplus  crops  while  paying  additional  taxes, — 
if  the  present  tax  on  tin  plates  were  doubled  in  order  to  promote  their 
production  in  this  country  ?  Would  not  our  farmers  not  only  lose  a 
great  market  while  gaining  a  little  one,  but  would  they  not  also  be  yet 
more  heavily  taxed  on  all  that  they  now  produce  by  the  heavier  cost  of 
utensils  in  the  household,  the  dairy,  the  canning  factory,  and  wherever 
tin  is  consumed  ? 

It  was  not,  however,  wholly  by  considerations  of  this  kind  that  the 
writer  was  led  to  change  his  views  upon  the  subject  of  protection,  and 
to  become  an  advocate  of  ultimate  free  trade,  i.  e.,  an  advocate  of  the 


26o 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


careful  adjustment  of  duties  upon  foreign  imports,  to  the  end  that  the 
largest  required  revenue  should  be  derived  from  foreign  imports,  with 
the  least  interference  with  the  freely  chosen  pursuits  of  the  people. 
Such  a  policy  is  a  very  different  thing  from  the  abolition  of  the  custom¬ 
houses,  sometimes  imputed  to  the  advocates  of  free  trade.  Custom¬ 
houses  are  held  by  them  to  be  necessary  instrumentalities  for  col¬ 
lecting  a  revenue  by  revenue  duties  upon  some  commodities,  and  a 
tariff  system  must  be  continued  unless  recourse  is  had  to  a  system  of 
absolute  direct  taxation  for  the  support  of  the  national  as  well  as  the 
State  and  municipal  governments — a  proposition  which  has  as  yet  very 
little  support. 

Having  begun  to  doubt  the  validity  of  the  premises  on  which  the 
protective  system  had  been  established,  the  writer  was  induced  to  study 
the  facts  relating  to  the  industrial  historyjand  progress  of  this  country. 
It  at  once  appeared  to  him  that  the  system  of  protection  had  been  ad¬ 
vocated  and  sustained  almost  wholly  for  the  development  or  support  of 
a  very  few  specific  branches  of  domestic  industry  ;  constituting,  even 
from  the  beginning,  only  a  small  part  of  the  occupations  commonly 
listed  and  considered  under  the  title  of  manufactures  ;  notably,  in  sup¬ 
port  of  iron-mines,  iron-works  and  steel-works,  and  in  support  of  tex¬ 
tile  manufactures, — all  other  branches  of  industry  in  behalf  of  which 
the  system  is  sustained  being  relatively  very  insignificant,  both  in  the 
annual  value  of  their  products  and  in  the  number  of  persons  occupied 
in  them. 

By  reference  to  every  treatise  upon  the  industrial  history  of  this 
country,  it  soon  became  apparent  to  him  that  the  original  production 
of  iron  and  steel  and  their  conversion  into  higher  forms  owed  nothing 
to  the  tariff.  Iron-mines,  iron-works,  and  even  steel-works  had  been 
thoroughly  established  long  before  the  nation  itself  had  any  existence, 
so  that  one  of  the  very  causes  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution  had  been 
the  effort  of  Great  Britain  to  prevent  the  development  of  these  arts  in 
the  colonies  of  North  America.  (See  “  The  History  of  Iron  and  its 
Manufacture,”  Census  of  1880,  Report  by  James  M.  Swank.)  It  also 
became  apparent  that  the  manufacture  of  woolen  fabrics,  in  a  true 
sense,  was  as  old  as  the  settlement  of  the  country  itself,  and  that  this 
textile  art  had  been  fully  established  and  developed  before  the  nation 
itself  existed,  our  ancestors  having  been  mostly  clad  in  homespun  fab¬ 
rics  of  domestic  manufacture  in  the  strictest  sense.  Woolen  manufac¬ 
tures  had  been  very  fully  developed,  even  on  the  factory  method,  before 
the  first  really  protective  tariff,  that  of  1824,  had  been  enacted.  The 
art  of  spinning  cotton  had  not  been  developed  early  in  our  history,  be¬ 
cause  the  cotton-gin  itself,  on  which  it  depended,  was  only  invented  in 
1793  ;  but  the  beginning  of  the  profitable  manufacture  of  cotton  in  this 
country  antedated  the  first  really  protective  tariff,  that  of  1824,  by 


What  Shall  be  Taxed ?  What  Shall  be  Exempt?  261 


many  years.  Aside  from  these  considerable  branches  of  industry,  no 
important  branch  of  industry  has  been  introduced  into  this  country 
since  the  tariff  of  1824,  which  had  not  a  beginning  before  any  tariff  was 
enacted  ;  such  branches  as  have  subsequently  originated  here  have 
been  promoted  or  rendered  possible  by  subsequent  inventions. 

The  writer  therefore  became  convinced  that  the  protective  system 
since  1824  had  tended  rather  to  restrict  than  to  diversify  the  occupa¬ 
tions  of  the  people,  and  that  its  only  effect,  whether  beneficial  to  the 
especially  stimulated  industries  or  otherwise,  had  only  been  to  divert 
labor  and  capital  in  some  measure  from  those  branches  of  industry  to 
which  they  would  have  been  applied  without  a  tariff,  to  those  which 
have  been  especially  stimulated  or  promoted  by  means  of  a  tariff.  It 
also  became  apparent  to  him,  as  it  was  apparent  to  Daniel  Webster 
before  he  was  forced  from  the  position  of  a  statesman  to  take  up  the 
functions  of  an  advocate,  that  the  specific  branches  of  industry  which 
could  be  thus  stimulated  by  a  tariff  were  not  in  themselves’ very  desir¬ 
able  occupations  to  the  people  who  might  engage  in  them  ;  probably 
much  less  conducive  to  welfare  than  the  arts  to  which  they  would  have 
been  devoted,  except  for  this  artifical  method  of  directing  their  work. 

No  wiser  words  were  ever  spoken  on  this  subject  than  those  which 
were  uttered  by  Daniel  Webster  at  a  meeting  held  in  Boston  in  Faneuil 
Hall  on  the  17th  of  August,  1820,  to  resist  the  efforts  which  were  then 
being  made,  notably  by  John  C.  Calhoun  and  the  representatives  of  the 
slave  States,  to  establish  a  system  of  protection  in  order  to  create  a 
greater  home  market  for  slave-grown  cotton.  The  officers  and  pro¬ 
moters  of  this  meeting  were  all  leading  merchants  of  Boston,  many  of 
whom  were  forced  by  the  tariff  act  subsequently  passed,  to  give  up 
their  commercial  pursuits  and  to  engage  in  manufacturing.  The  fol¬ 
lowing  is  a  report  of  the  proceedings  copied  from  the  Daily  Advertiser , 
and  of  the  resolutions  adopted  : 

At  a  meeting  of  merchants  and  others  interested  in  the  prosperity  of  commerce 
and  agriculture,  at  Boston,  on  the  17th  day  of  August,  1820,  to  take  into  consideration 
a  communication  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  at  Philadelphia,  on  the  tariff  recom¬ 
mended  to  Congress  at  the  last  session,  the  following  persons  were  chosen  a  committee 
to  adopt  such  measures  in  relation  to  the  subject  as  they  should  deem  expedient. 

Messrs.  William  Gray,  James  Perkins,  John  Dorr,  Nathaniel  Goddard,  Benjamin 
Rich,  Israel  Thorndike,  Esq.,  William  Shimmin,  Thomas  W.  Ward,  William  Harris, 
Daniel  Webster,  Nathan  Appleton,  Abbott  Lawrence,  Joseph  Sewall,  Jonathan  Phil¬ 
lips,  Lot  Wheelwright,  Caleb  Loring,  Samuel  A.  Welles,  George  Bond,  George  Ilallet, 
Samuel  P.  Gardiner,  Josiah  Knapp,  Isaac  Winslow,  Winslow  Lewis,  Thomas  Wiggles- 
worth,  John  Cotton,  John  Parker,  William  Sturgis. 

The  meeting  was  then  adjourned  to  the  2d  day  of  October,  at  which  time  delegates 
from  the  principal  seaports  of  Massachusetts,  and  farmers,  manufacturers,  and  all  others 
feeling  an  interest  in  the  subject,  were  invited  to  attend. 

The  committee  appointed  seven  of  their  number — Messrs.  Perkins,  Gardiner, 
Welles,  Shimmin,  Sturgis,  and  Dorr — to  prepare  a  report  and  resolutions,  to  be  sub¬ 
mitted  at  the  adjourned  meeting. 


262 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


At  the  general  meeting  in  Faneuil  Hall,  on  the  2d  of  October,  a  report,  presented 
by  Mr.  Perkins,  chairman  of  the  committee  last  mentioned,  was  accepted,  and  the 
resolutions  accompanying  it  adopted  unanimously  ;  and  it  was  ordered  that  they  be 
printed,  and  a  copy  sent  to  every  member  of  Congress  from  the  State. 

The  following  were  the  resolutions  thus  adopted  in  a  State  which  afterwards  be¬ 
came  strongly  protectionist,  but  which  is  now  once  more  about  to  take  the  lead  in 
demanding  freedom  of  trade. 

Resolved ,  That  we  have  regarded  with  pleasure  the  establishment  and  success  of 
manufacturers  among  us,  and  consider  their  growth — when  natural  and  spontaneous, 
and  not  the  effect  of  a  system  of  bounties  and  protection — as  an  evidence  of  general 
wealth  and  prosperity. 

Resolved ,  That,  relying  on  the  ingenuity,  enterprise,  and  skill  of  our  fellow- 
citizens,  we  believe  that  all  manufactures  adapted  to  our  character  and  circumstances 
will  be  introduced  and  extended  as  soon  and  as  far  as  will  promote  the  public  interest, 
without  any  further  protection  than  they  now  receive. 

Resolved ,  That  no  objection  ought  ever  to  be  made  to  any  amount  of  taxes,  equally 
apportioned  and  imposed,  for  the  purpose  of  raising  revenue  necessary  for  the  support 
of  government  ;  but  that  taxes  imposed  on  the  people  for  the  sole  benefit  of  any  one 
class  of  men  are  equally  inconsistent  with  the  principles  of  our  Constitution  and  with 
sound  policy. 

Resolved ,  That  the  supposition,  that  until  the  proposed  tariff  or  some  similar  meas¬ 
ure  be  adopted,  we  are  and  shall  be  dependent  on  foreigners  for  the  means  of 
subsistence  and  defence  is,  in  our  opinion,  altogether  fallacious  and  fanciful,  and 
derogatory  to  the  character  of  the  nation. 

Resolved ,  That  high  bounties  on  such  domestic  manufactures  as  are  principally 
benefited  by  that  tariff  favor  great  capitalists  rather  than  personal  industry  or  the 
owners  of  small  capitals,  and,  therefore,  that  we  do  not  perceive  its  tendency  to 
promote  national  industry. 

Resolved ,  That  we  are  equally  incapable  of  discovering  its  beneficial  effects  on 
agriculture,  since  the  obvious  consequences  of  its  adoption  would  be,  that  the  farmer 
must  give  more  than  he  now  does  for  all  he  buys,  and  receive  less  for  all  he  sells. 

Resolved,  That  the  imposition  of  duties  which  are  enormous,  and  deemed  by  a  large 
portion  of  the  people  to  be  unequal  and  unjust,  is  dangerous,  as  it  encourages  the 
practice  of  smuggling. 

Resolved,  That  in  our  opinion  the  proposed  tariff  and  the  principles  on  which  it  is 
avowedly  founded  would,  if  adopted,  have  a  tendency,  however  different  may  be  the 
motives  of  those  who  recommend  them,  to  diminish  the  industry,  impede  the  prosperity, 
and  corrupt  the  morals  of  the  people. 

In  sustaining  these  resolutions,  Daniel  Webster  used  these  words  : 

“To  individuals  this  policy  is  as  injurious  as  it  is  to  government.  A  system  of 
artificial  government  protection  leads  the  people  to  too  much  reliance  on  government. 
If  left  to  their  own  choice  of  pursuits  they  depend  on  their  own  skill  and  their  own 
industry.  But  if  government  essentially  affects  their  occupations  by  its  systems  of 
bounties  and  preferences,  it  is  natural  when  in  distress  that  they  should  call  on  govern¬ 
ment  for  relief.” 

Were  not  these  words  prophetic  ?  Has  not  the  tendency  ever  since 
the  adoption  of  the  protective  tariff  of  1824  been  for  many  great  bodies 
of  the  people  to  think  they  could  better  their  condition  either  by 
attaining  higher  wages,  by  shortening  the  hours  of  labor,  or  by  some 


What  Shall  be  Taxed ?  What  Shall  be  Exempt?  263 


other  artificial  method,  through  an  appeal  to  the  Legislature  to  pass 
every  kind  of  act  for  regulating  the  direction  of  the  labor,  the  hours  of 
the  work,  the  rate  of  interest,  and  the  methods  of  life  at  every  point  ? 
Has  not  the  long-continued  existence  of  this  system  given  a  tendency 
to  the  hardly  disguised  socialistic  movements  of  the  present  day? 
Daniel  Webster  continued  his  speech  as  follows  : 

“  Hence  a  perpetual  contest  carried  on  between  the  different  interests  of  society. 
Agriculture  taxed  to-day  to  sustain  manufactures — commerce  taxed  to-morrow  to 
sustain  agriculture — and  then  impositions  perhaps,  on  both  manufactures  and  agri¬ 
culture  to  support  commerce.  And  when  government  has  exhausted  its  invention 
in  these  modes  of  legislation,  it  finds  the  result  less  favorable  than  the  original  and 
natural  state  and  course  of  things.  He  could  hardly  conceive  of  any  thing  worse  than 
a  policy  which  should  place  the  great  interests  of  this  country  in  hostility  to  one 
another — a  policy  which  should  keep  them  in  constant  conflict,  and  bring  them  every 
year  to  fight  their  battles  in  the  committee-rooms  of  the  House  of  Representatives  at 
Washington." 

What  truer  picture  can  be  given  to-day  of  what  we  have  seen  than 
this  forecast  of  Daniel  Webster’s  of  what  we  should  see  ? 

But  it  was  not  even  by  consideration  of  these  matters  that  the  writer 
became  finally  convinced  that  the  true  interests  of  this  nation  would  be 
attained,  the  greatest  diversity  of  occupation  promoted,  and  the  widest 
extension  of  manufactures  brought  about,  by  steady  and  regular  legis¬ 
lation  in  the  direction  of  ultimate  free  trade  ;  his  final  conclusions  were 
reached  only  by  attempting  to  reason  upon  What  Makes  the  Rate  of 
Wages  ?  (see  “  Distribution  of  Products,”  G.  P.  Putnam’s  Sons)  ;  the 
result  of  this  investigation  being  the  conclusion  that  in  all  arts  to  which 
modern  labor-saving  inventions  or  mechanism  can  be  applied  by  an 
intelligent  people,  high  rates  of  wages  either  in  money  or  in  what 
money  will  buy  do  not  imply  a  high  cost  of  production,  but  quite  the 
reverse,  the  rule  being  twofold  : 

1  st.  That  in  all  such  arts,  high  rates  of  wages ,  either  in  money  or  in 
what  money  will  buy ,  are  the  necessary  complement ,  correlative ,  or  conse¬ 
quence  of  a  low  cost  of  production ,  provided  commerce  is  free  from  any 
artificial  obstruction 

2d.  A  principle  developed  both  by  Henry  C.  Carey,  the  protection¬ 
ist,  and  by  Frederic  Bastiat,  the  free-trader,  “  that  in  proportion  to  the 
increase  of  capital  the  relative  share  of  the  annual  product  secured  by  capi¬ 
tal ,  while  it  may  increase  absolutely  is  diminished  relatively  j  but ,  on  the 
other  hand ,  the  share  falling  to  labor ,  i.  <?.,  to  those  who  do  the  actual  work , 
is  increased  both  absolutely  and  relatively .” 

Since  these  two  principles  became  apparent  to  me,  I  have  devoted 
such  time  as  might  be  spared  from  the  occupations  of  a  busy  life,  in 
attempting  to  bring  them  into  common  notice,  believing  that  in  this  way 
even  those  who  had  faith  in  the  protective  system  might  be  led  to  see 


264 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


its  error,  and  might  be  ready  to  join  with  the  reasonable  but  not  revo¬ 
lutionary  advocates  of  free  trade  in  such  a  revision  of  the  system  of 
duties  on  foreign  imports  as  would  promote  domestic  manufactures  to 
the  utmost,  while  depriving  the  people  in  least  measure  of  their  free¬ 
dom  in  applying  either  their  own  labor  or  their  own  capital  to  produc¬ 
tive  industry. 

How  this  should  be  done  and  what  period  of  time  should  be  covered 
in  making  the  change,  are  matters  of  relatively  small  consequence,  pro¬ 
vided  a  definite  policy  be  adopted  and  that  a  beginning  should  be 
made. 

The  actual  burden  of  taxation  under  the  present  tariff,  measured  in 
money,  even  including  any  small  private  gain  which  at  the  present 
time  may  be  secured  in  consequence  of  its  existence,  is  a  matter  of 
relatively  small  importance.  The  writer  is  of  opinion  that  we  can 
afford  to  continue  even  under  the  present  system,  if  that  is  the  only 
way  by  which  the  national  debt  can  be  speedily  paid  in  full.  But  even 
that  end  may  be  secured,  i.  e.,  the  speedy  payment  of  the  whole  debt, 
and  yet  great  modifications  may  be  made  in  the  existing  tariff,  and  at 
the  same  time  a  true  adjustment  of  its  terms  may  be  made  to  the  new 
conditions  of  the  country  which  have  been  developed  since  the  end  of 
the  Civil  War,  if  the  reasonable  men  on  both  sides  of  this  question 
could  but  for  a  time  lay  aside  their  mutual  jealousy  and  their  suspicion 
of  each  other’s  motives,  and  by  reasonable  methods  devise  a  measure 
which  would  yield  not  only  the  maximum  revenue  required  from  cus¬ 
toms,  but  the  maximum  benefit  which  may  be  gained  by  a  reduction  of 
taxation.  This  can  be  readily  accomplished  without  exposing  any 
great  branch  of  industry  which  has  been  developed  or  considerably 
extended  under  the  influence  of  the  existing  system,  to  any  disaster. 

It  is  to  this  end  that  these  studies  in  the  Industrial  Progress  of  the 
Nation  have  been  prepared,  as  one  of  the  object-lessons  which  may  be 
useful  to  both  parties  in  the  controversy  in  the  discussion  of  the  eco¬ 
nomic  questions  which  are  now  pressing  upon  this  country  for  solution. 

It  would  be  hardly  worth  while  to  devote  many  years  or  much  la¬ 
bor  to  these  two  subjects  of  production  and  distribution,  if  they  related 
wholly  to  material  conditions.  If  there  were  not  a  moral  and  an  ethi¬ 
cal  side  to  the  studies  of  the  social  facts  which  are  commonly  included 
under  the  somewhat  misleading  title  of  Political  Economy,  these  ques¬ 
tions  might  be  of  little  interest,  even  to  a  student  of  affairs.  It  is  the 
moral  and  ethical  aspect  of  the  study  of  material  things  which  places 
social  science  above  the  plane  of  mere  materialism,  and  puts  the  study 
of  social  facts  at  the  head  of  all  inductive  sciences. 

The  first  development  of  manhood,  i.  e.,  the  elevation  of  man  above 
the  beast,  appears  to  have  been  brought  about  through  the  perception 
of  man  that  he  could  accumulate  both  the  concrete  results  of  labor,  but 


What  Shall  be  Taxed?  What  Shall  be  Exempt?  265 

also  the  conclusions  derived  from  experience,  to  the  end  that  each 
generation  might  give  the  next  a  better  start  in  life,  and  thereby  each 
succeeding  generation  might  be  enabled  to  live  a  better  life  than  the 
last,  proidded  the  general  intelligence  of  the  people  of  each  generation 
should  be  developed  coincidently  with  the  accumulation  of  material 
products,  so  that  they  might  be  able  to  find  out  the  best  way  of  making 
use  of  the  skill  and  capital  derived  from  the  past. 

As  one  passes  in  review  the  events  which  have  occurred  in  the 
nineteenth  century,  affecting  the  material  welfare  of  men  and  of 
nations,  and  at  the  same  time  attempts  to  forecast  the  events  of  the 
twentieth  century,  the  mind  becomes  dazed  in  attempting  to  com¬ 
prehend  the  possibilities  of  the  future.  At  the  beginning  of  the  nine¬ 
teenth  century  the  previous  inventions  of  Henry  Cort  in  smelting 
iron  with  mineral  coal  ;  of  Watt  in  the  use  of  steam  ;  of  Arkwright 
and  others  in  the  application  of  iron  and  steel  to  the  textile  arts, 
together  with  good  highways  and  other  great  improvements,  intro¬ 
duced  between  1750  and  1800,  had  given  to  Great  Britain  a  huge 
advantage  over  all  other  nations  in  the  accumulation  of  wealth  ;  a 
great  part  of  this  gain  was  even  then  derived  from  her  foreign  com¬ 
merce,  although,  even  up  to  a  later  date  her  commerce  was  most 
injuriously  obstructed  by  protective  duties.  By  this  huge  increase  in 
her  productive  power  she  was  enabled  to  join  in  the  great  contest  with 
Napoleon,  and  to  subsidize  other  states  and  nations  in  that  under¬ 
taking  ;  these  efforts,  culminating  in  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  put  the 
dynasties  of  the  Bourbons  and  others  again  into  power  and  restored 
the  old  and  bad  division  of  countries,  duchies,  and  petty  states,  for 
the  far  better  boundaries  which  Napoleon  had  established. 

In  this  struggle  was  also  laid  the  foundation  of  the  great  debts  and 
standing  armies  which  are  now  eating  out  the  heart  of  Europe  ;  yet,  in 
spite  of  these  debts  and  armies,  by  means  of  the  inventions  and  appli¬ 
cations  of  science  which  have  come  into  effect  during  the  century, 
the  people  have  been  sustained,  great  progress  has  been  made,  and 
the  foundation  has  been  laid  for  the  better  conditions  of  life  whenever 
the  mass  of  the  people  who  are  now  oppressed  shall  find  out  the  way 
to  abate  the  privilege  of  classes,  to  throw  off  the  burden  of  debts 
incurred  by  dynastic  rulers  to  which  they  never  gave  their  consent* 
and  to  disband  the  armies  by  which  the  prejudices  of  race,  caste, 
and  creed,  are  maintained  at  the  heaviest  possible  cost,  now  evidently 
becoming  insupportable  and  steadily  leading  on  to  nihilism,  anarchy, 
socialism,  and  other  evils  by  which  force  is  met  by  force. 

Yet  perhaps  even  the  later  inventions  of  the  present  nineteenth  cen¬ 
tury,  by  which  time  and  distance  have  been  almost  eliminated  and  the 
cost  of  distributing  the  abundance  of  the  earth  has  been  reduced  to  a 
mere  fraction,  may  prove  to  be  as  inadequate  in  the  service  of  men 


266  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 

compared  to  what  is  yet  to  be  accomplished  by  science,  as  the 
old  methods  had  proved  to  be  ineffectual  as  compared  to  those  which 
are  now  working  towards  abundance  and  common  welfare. 

Already  the  crack-brained  enthusiasts  of  the  present  day  may  prove 
in  the  future  to  have  been  the  true  prophets  when  many  new  processes 
are  perfected,  of  which  the  effect  can  only  be  imagined  :  such  as  the 
conversion  of  heat  directly  into  work  ;  the  development  of  electricity, 
whatever  the  ^orce  so  named  may  be  ;  the  purification  of  the  waste  of 
the  sewers  at  little  cost  with  profit  to  those  who  do  the  work  and  freed 
from  the  degrading  conditions  now  connected  with  such  occupation  ; 
the  disassociation  of  the  nitrogen  from  the  atmosphere  and  its  conver¬ 
sion  into  food  for  plants  by  less  co'stly  and  quicker  methods  than  any 
yet  known,  thereby  removing  any  possible  pessimistic  notion  of  the 
food  supply  becoming  deficient  for  the  population  ;  the  derivation  of 
heat  more  directly  from  water  and  the  conversion  of  its  elements 
into  power  without  the  intervention  of  such  excessive  quantities 
of  carbonaceous  fuel  as  are  now  wasted  ;  the  production  of  the  metal 
aluminium  at  low  cost,  giving  us  a  new  substance  for  the  construction 
of  all  kinds  of  machinery  from  a  metal  in  which  lightness  and  strength 
are  combined  and  for  which  the  crude  material  is  most  abundant. 

Or  again,  to  any  one  who  studies  the  textile  arts  critically  or  theo¬ 
retically,  in  which  the  production  of  coarse  cotton  cloth  has  been 
increased  in  a  single  generation  from  a  possible  five  thousand  yards  to 
each  operative  in  the  factory  in  a  year,  to  thirty  thousand  yards  as  the 
result  of  fewer  hours  of  labor  in  the  same  factory  at  the  present  time, 
it  is  apparent  that  all  existing  cotton  machinery,  perfect  as  it  seems  to 
be,  is  crude  and  cumbrous.  Seventy-five  units  out  of  each  hundred  of 
the  original  strength  of  the  cotton  fibre  are  destroyed  in  the  rough 
handling  which  it  receives  upon  the  machinery  by  which  it  is  worked 
or  in  the  processes  by  which  it  is  rendered  suitable  for  clothing.  The 
loom  is  but  a  development  of  a  prehistoric  type,  to  which  ingenious 
devices  have  been  added,  but  which  is  still  subject  to  be  invented  out 
of  existence  when  some  one  with  the  genius  of  Arkwright  applies  his 
inventive  capacity  to  a  revolutionary  change  in  the  method  of  weaving, 
such  as  Arkwright  applied  to  the  extension  of  the  strand  of  cotton  or 
wool  prior  to  spinning,  by  means  of  successive  rolls  working  at  dif¬ 
ferent  speeds. 

To  what  extent  and  in  what  way  these  changes  may  work  the 
welfare  of  mankind,  one  may  not  yet  imagine  ;  suffice  it  that  one  may 
now  be  warranted  in  laying  down  a  principle  the  very  opposite  of  that 
upon  which  Malthus  ventured  :  to  wit,  the  application  of  science  tends 
to  develop  the  means  of  material  welfare  for  the  enjoyment  of  man¬ 
kind  in  something  like  a  geometrical  progression,  while  mankind  itself 
tends  to  increase  at  a  far  more  moderate  rate  of  progression  to  which 


What  Shall  be  Taxed  ?  What  Shall  be  Exempt  f  267 


no  fitting  mathematical  term  may  yet  be  applied  because  the  law 
governing  the  increase  of  population  is  not  yet  fully  comprehended. 
We  may,  however,  almost  if  not  absolutely  determine  that  the  con¬ 
clusion  of  the  whole  matter  is,  that  in  respect  to  material  things  the 
consumption  of  mankind  is  limited,  while  #the  power  of  production 
of  the  means  of  subsistence  is  relatively  unlimited.  Under  these 
conditions  peace,  order,  and  industry  may  be  maintained  wherever 
the  law  of  mutual  service  on  which  all  commerce  among  men  and 
nations  is  founded  shall  become  a  part  of  the  common  knowledge  of 
mankind. 

It  is  not,  however,  necessary  to  wait  for  such  knowledge  and  com¬ 
prehension  of  the  true  function  of  commerce  to  become  universal. 
Whenever  the  English-speaking  nations  and  states  shall  adopt  the 
principle  of  free  exchange  so  far  as  it  is  consistent  with  the  necessity 
of  each  country  or  state  to  derive  a  revenue  from  duties  placed  upon  a 
few  articles,  it  may  become  impossible  for  any  other  country  which 
continues  to  subject  itself  to  heavy  duties  upon  imports,  to  compete  in 
any  large  way  in  the  commerce  of  the  world.  Such  a  protected  state 
or  nation  may  be  enabled  to  maintain  its  isolation  more  or  less  effectu¬ 
ally  ;  although  according  to  the  experience  of  nations,  especially  of 
this  country,  the  retention  of  the  home  market  is  rendered  more  and 
more  difficult  by  the  imposition  of  duties  on  important  materials,  un¬ 
less  these  duties  are  put  so  high  as  to  become  prohibitive.  Even  in 
that  case  evasion,  false  swearing,  and  smuggling  tend  to  prevent  the 
complete  success  of  such  an  undertaking.  What  more  beneficent  in¬ 
fluence  could  the  English-speaking  people  exert  than  by  their  control 
of  commerce,  which  benefiting  themselves  and  all  who  deal  with  them, 
may  also  put  an  end  to  the  contests  among  nations  and  to  the  oppres¬ 
sion  to  which  other  states  and  nations  are  now  subjected  simply  because 
they  cannot  compete  except  by  adopting  the  same  methods  ? 

If,  then,  the  analysis  of  social  facts  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
greatest  gain  to  all  nations  is  to  be  reached  through  interdependence 
and  not  by  isolation  or  independence,  and  that  the  development  of  in¬ 
dividual  character  rests  upon  mutual  service  and  not  upon  the  selfish 
isolation  either  of  men  or  nations,  it  follows  that  the  pursuit  of  material 
prosperity  at  once  becomes  justified  as  a  means  to  a  higher  end,  that 
end  being  the  harmonious  relations  of  mankind  and  the  establishment 
of  conditions  of  order  and  industry  which  are  conducive  to  and  are 
only  consistent  with  the  strictest  morality  and  the  highest  measure  of 
common  intelligence  or  civilization.  • 

May  it  not  therefore  be  held  that  so  long  as  man  dwells  in  a  ma¬ 
terial  body  upon  the  earth,  the  satisfaction  of  the  material  wants  of 
that  body  will  be  secured  by  mutual  service  rather  than  through  mutual 
plunder  and  strife  ? 


268  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 

May  it  not,  then,  be  held  that  man  could  only  come  to  the  concep¬ 
tion  of  his  higher  mental  and  spiritual  faculties  through  the  struggle 
and  strife  which  have  been  and  are  still  so  arduous  in  the  work  which 
is  necessary  for  the  supply  of  his  material  wants  ?  The  body,  the  mind, 
and  the  spirit  can  only  be  separated  by  physical  death  ;  in  life  they 
must  be  harmoniously  developed  in  order  that  either  phase  of  life  may 
attain  its  highest  conditions, — giving  consideration  to  mankind  rather 
than  to  the  individual  man  in  treating  the  general  terms  of  existence. 
It  may  be  admitted  that  high  spiritual  qualities  have  been  developed 
when  asceticism  was  thought  to  be  necessary  thereto,  but  such  lives 
were  almost  wholly  wasted,  for  the  reason  that  the  example  could  not 
be  followed  by  masses  and  it  would  have  been  impossible  for  mankind 
to  continue  to  exist  in  that  way.  High  mental  qualities  have  also  been 
developed  under  the  great  disadvantage  of  extreme  poverty  ;  in  some 
cases  it  may  even  have  been  that  the  extreme  poverty  was  necessary  to 
give  the  necessary  stimulus  to  the  mental  development  of  an  excep¬ 
tional  man  ;  but  that  constitutes  no  rule  for  mankind.  The  highest 
type  of  art  may  have  been  evolved  under  the  conditions  of  society  in 
ancient  Greece  ;  but  would  any  intelligent  person  to-day  propose  to 
restore  the  order  of  Grecian  society'  for  the  purpose  of  attaining  a  high 
place  in  art  ?  The  golden  age  in  English  literature  may  have  been  in 
the  sixteenth  or  seventeenth  centuries  ;  but  would  any  reasonable 
person  suggest  that  the  order  of  society  as  it  existed  in  England  at 
that  period  should  be  restored,  even  if  it  were  necessary  to  the  attain¬ 
ment  of  such  a  high  plane  of  literary  activity  and  development  ? 

It  may  be  and  probably  is  true  that  the  development  of  the  material 
resources  of  this  continent  have  so  occupied  the  minds  of  men  who 
dwell  upon  it  as  to  have  turned  their  attention  in  great  measure  away 
from  art  and  literature  for  a  time  ;  but  it  by  no  means  follows  that  art 
and  literature  may  not  ultimately  make  even  greater  progress,  even  by 
way  of  this  temporary  retardation,  than  they  could  have  attained  under 
other  conditions.  In  what  country  or  in  what  age  has  there  ever  been 
more  readiness  to  apply  wealth,  gained  by  the  busy  work  of  a  single 
life  and  by  men  who  have  themselves  had  little  appreciation  of  art  or 
literature,  to  literary  and  artistic  purposes.  In  what  period  and  in 
what  country  has  there  ever  before  been  such  a  readiness  to  devote 
private  gains  to  the  purposes  of  common  education  of  every  kind,  in¬ 
dustrial,  technical,  scientific,  literary,  and  artistic  ? 

It  may  therefore  be  the  result  of  very  shallow  observation  if  the 
great  material  progress  of  this  nation  is  condemned  for  the  reason  that 
it  has  not  yet  been  accompanied  by  the  highest  artistic  and  literary 
achievements.  It  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be.  It  is  but  a 
hundred  years  since  the  United  States  laid  the  foundation  of  a  national 
life  by  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  and  that  life  had  no  true  ex- 


What  Shall  be  Taxed  f  What  Shall  be  Exempt  ¥  269 

istence  until  Abraham  Lincoln  became  the  chosen  instrument  to  give 
liberty  to  the  slave. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  held  that  our  material  as  well  as 
our  mental  progress  has  been  retarded,  because  legislation  has  been 
directed  to  an  attempt  to  help  those  who  could  not  help  themselves,  or 
who  believed  that  they  could  not  help  themselves,  in  making  use  of  the 
huge  natural  resources  of  this  country.  In  this  mistaken  effort  may 
there  not  be  found  one  of  the  causes  of  the  alleged  mediocrity  of  the 
modern  statesmen,  or  of  the  politicians  who  cannot  be  called  states¬ 
men,  as  well  as  of  the  discredit  which  is  to  some  extent  attached  to 
political  life,  or  to  what  might  and  should  be  the  highest  service  of  the 
state. 

What  else  could  happen  if  it  is  admitted  that  the  public  trust  re¬ 
posed  in  legislators  may  be  diverted  to  any  purpose  of  private  gain, 
even  though  the  end  avowed  might  be  the  public  good  ? 

It  is  admitted  on  every  side  and  by  every  person  whose  observations 
are  worthy  of  any  consideration  whatever,  that  in  the  nature  of  things 
every  great  nation  must,  of  necessity,  sustain  itself  in  chief  measure  by 
the  development  of  its  own  resources,  i.e.,  from  the  product  of  its  own 
fields,  its  own  forests,  and  its  own  mines,  if  any  there  are  within  its 
limits.  It  is  admitted  on  every  side  that  the  internal  traffic  or  com¬ 
merce  of  a  great  nation — that  is  to  say,  the  exchange  of  its  own  prod¬ 
ucts  among  its  own  citizens — must,  in  the  nature  of  things,  constitute 
the  greater  part  of  its  traffic.  With  respect  to  this  country,  it  must  be 
admitted  by  every  one  who  examines  the  question  with  any  earnest 
purpose  of  ascertaining  what  the  facts  really  are,  that  with  respect  to 
the  products  of  agriculture,  the  power  of  production  at  high  wages  and 
low  cost,  as  compared  to  any  and  all  other  nations  and  states,  is  so 
great  that  not  less  than  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  all  our  food  and  fibres 
for  our  own  consumption  must  be  raised  within  the  limits  of  our  own 
country,  because  no  other  country  can  possibly  compete  with  us,  and 
that  we  could  almost  feed  the  world  besides.  Even  though  the  rates 
of  wages  are  from  fifty  to  five  hundred  per  cent,  higher  than  those  of 
any  other  country,  the  products  of  agriculture  which  could  be  in  part 
imported  from  any  other  country — consisting  almost  wholly  of  sugar, 
tobacco,  wool,  hemp,  flax,  and  a  few  other  articles  of  possible  import, 
or  which  could  be  in  part  imported,  constitute  not  over  five  per  cent, 
of  the  entire  product  of  our  farms.  With  respect  to  the  product  of  our 
mines,  no  other  country  could  supply  us  with  our  necessary  consump¬ 
tion  of  coal,  although  a  small  part  of  our  fuel  might  be  imported  from 
Canada,  if  coal  were  free  from  taxation.  No  other  country  could  sup¬ 
ply  us  with  any  considerable  part  of  our  copper  in  competition  with 
our  own  mines.  No  other  country  could  possibly  supply  us  with  any 
considerable  part  of  our  necessary  consumption  of  iron  and  steel,  even 


270 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


if  all  taxes  on  imports  were  removed  therefrom,  without  such  a  rise  in 
the  price  in  other  countries,  followed  by  a  rise  in  the  cost  of  produc¬ 
tion,  as  would  forever  do  away  with  the  existing  disparity  in  the  price 
which  puts  us  at  so  great  a  disadvantage  in  the  conversion  of  these 
metals  into  their  higher  forms  for  use.  Had  our  workshops  and  fac¬ 
tories  which  are  now  in  existence  been  constructed  on  even  terms  with 
respect  to  the  cost  of  materials,  as  compared  to  those  of  other  coun¬ 
tries — that  is  to  say,  free  from  the  disparity  or  difference  which  has 
been  caused  by  the  tax  upon  the  import  of  the  materials  which  are 
consumed  in  their  construction,  no  other  country  could  supply  us  with 
any  large  part  of  the  common  or  necessary  forms  either  of  the  useful 
woolen  or  cotton  fabrics  which  are  required  for  the  comfort  of  the 
people,  however  large  a  part  of  our  supply  of  the  finer  fabrics  depend¬ 
ing  mainly  upon  fashion  and  fancy  might  be  imported,  if  there  were 
no  duties  upon  them. 

Hence  it  follows  that,  with  respect  to  the  number  of  persons  on 
whose  occupation  a  system  of  duties  on  foreign  imports  may  for  a  time 
exert  a  favorable  or  at  least  a  stimulating  effect,  we  must  omit  all  of 
those  who  are  engaged  in  professional  or  personal  service  ;  all  who  are 
occupied  in  trade  and  transportation  ;  ninety  to  ninety-five  per  cent, 
of  those  who  are  occupied  in  agricultural  pursuits  ;  and  a  large  pro¬ 
portion,  varying  from  sixty  to  eighty  per  cent.,  according  to  the  judg¬ 
ment  of  the  investigator,  of  all  who  are  engaged  in  the  arts  of  the 
mechanic,  in  manufacturing,  or  in  mining.  Under  these  conditions  it 
follows,  of  necessity,  that  any  legislation  directed  toward  the  especial 
establishment  or  development  of  particular  branches  of  industry  must 
proceed,  in  the  first  instance  at  least,  by  way  of  taxation  upon  the  many 
•  for  the  temporary  support  of  the  few  in  the  conduct  of  work  in  which 
they  are  either  incapable,  or  think  they  are  incapable  of  proceeding 
successfully  without  such  support  from  the  government.  Hence  it 
follows  again  that  all  legislation  of  this  kind  is,  of  necessity,  special 
legislation,  to  be  determined  upon  grounds  of  expediency  and  not 
upon  any  fundamental  principle  of  taxation. 

What  else  could  be  expected  from  such  a  system  persistently  fol¬ 
lowed  since  the  year  1824,  upon  the  quality  of  legislation  and  the 
character  of  those  by  whom  the  laws  are  made  ? 

Is  it  not  true  that  the  moment  it  is  admitted  that  legislation  may 
be  rightly  adopted  for  the  special  development  of  particular  branches 
of  industry,  the  danger  comes  in  which  had  not  before  existed,  that  the 
public  office  of  the  legislator  may  be  perverted  to  purposes  of  private 
gain,  even  without  the  legislator  being  himself  conscious  of  the  influ¬ 
ence  by  which  he  is  governed  ?  May  it  not  also  follow  that  even  if  the 
attempt  is  successful,  and  if  even  higher  wages  or  greater  profits  accrue 
to  the  particular  branch  of  industry  to  which  special  legislation  is 


What  Shall  be  Taxed ?  What  Shall  be  Exempt?  271 

directed,  the  lesson  will  be  caught  up  and  followed  in  other  lines  with¬ 
out  discrimination,  by  unreasoning  people  who  do  not  perceive  that 
such  a  system  of  protection  must,  in  the  nature  of  things,  be  of  very 
limited  application  ?  Has  this  not  been  the  course  of  legislation  for 
the  last  sixty  years  ?  What  truer  picture  could  have  been  drawn  than 
that  already  quoted  from  Webster  :  “  Agriculture  taxed  to-day  to  sus¬ 

tain  manufactures — commerce  taxed  to-morrow  to  sustain  agriculture — 
and  then  impositions ,  perhaps,  on  both  manufactures  and  agriculture  to  sup¬ 
port  commerce.” 

What  would  the  subsidies  now  proposed  to  be  given  to  steamship 
lines  be  but  “  impositions  on  manufactures  and  agriculture  ”  ? 

What  need  of  them  when  men  stand  ready  to  construct  the  steam¬ 
ships  and  to  establish  the  commerce  without  subsidy  or  bounty,  only 
asking  that  the  obstructive  taxes  which  now  forbid  shall  be  removed. 

Must  it  not  also  ensue,  and  has  it  not  ensued  from  the  apparent  if 
not  real  success  of  this  method  in  developing  certain  branches  of  in¬ 
dustry,  and  of  regulating  indirectly  the  prices  of  goods  and  the  wages 
of  labor,  that  the  unintelligent  should  impute  to  legislation  greater 
power  than  it  is  possible  to  exert  by  statutes,  and  should  compel  Con¬ 
gress  and  legislatures  alike,  by  mere  force  of  numbers,  to  attempt  to 
make  the  same  kind  of  application  of  statute  legislation  to  all  the  func¬ 
tions  of  life — to  wit,  to  the  hours  of  labor,  the  methods  of  work,  and 
even  to  the  direct  regulation  of  prices.  May  we  not  attribute  much  of 
the  socialistic  tendency  of  modern  legislation  in  this  country  to  the 
subtle  germ  implanted  under  the  so-called  system  of  protection  ta 
domestic  industry. 

It  would  not  be  suitable  for  the  writer  to  make  a  personal  appli¬ 
cation  of  these  views  to  particular  States  or  periods  in  the  history  of  this 
country.  The  great  moral  upheaval  of  society  brought  about  by  the 
existence  of  slavery  developed  heroic  qualities,  brought  true  statesmen 
to  the  front,  and  raised  the  level  of  the  discussion  of  principles  in  the 
Senate  and  the  House  of  Representative  to  the  very  highest  plane,  as 
the  discussion  of  moral  and  ethical  principles  always  has  done  and 
always  will  do. 

But  whence  came  the  jurists,  the  statesmen,  the  legislators,  the 
executive  officers,  and  the  soldiers  by  whom  this  work  was  done  ?  Did 
they  not  come  from  States  which  either  had  not  been  subjected  to  the 
idea  of  special  legislation,  so  as  to  have  become  almost  incapable  of  send¬ 
ing  men  of  any  greatness  or  force  to  Congress,  or  else  from  States  which 
possessed  sufficient  intelligence  among  the  mass  of  the  people  to  sur¬ 
mount  the  evil  effects  of  long  devotion  to  legislation  for  special  purposes  ? 
But  since  that  contest  was  ended,  has  not  the  corruption  of  the  civil 
service  become  the  paramount  evil  ?  Have  not  the  debates  in  Con¬ 
gress,  with  few  exceptions,  come  down  to  the  level  of  unintelligent. 


272  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 

mediocrity  ?  Has  not  the  condition  of  election  to  political  office 
become  a  matter  of  private  bargain  rather  than  of  devotion  to  the  pub¬ 
lic  service  ?  Will  not  the  function  of  the  politician  be  degraded  from 
the  high  place  in  which  it  ought  to  stand  as  the  title  of  him  who  serves 
his  country  in  the  truest  sense,  by  even  an  honest  and  sincere  but  yet 
injurious  perversion  of  the  powers  of  the  legislature  to  the  support  of 
special  interests  which  may  be  demanded  by  men  who  as  honestly  and 
sincerely  believe  they  are  entitled  to  such  support  ? 

Even  if  every  thing  could  be  attained  in  the  way  of  material  progress 
and  prosperity  which  is  claimed  for  the  protective  system,  would  it  be 
worth  gaining  at  the  cost  of  depriving  the  nation  of  its  opportunity 
to  develop  all  its  forces  and  all  its  opportunities  by  its  own  inherent 
capacity  and  ability,  without  calling  upon  the  legislature  to  enact 
special  taxes  intended  to  force  the  direction  of  industry  out  of  its 
natural  channels  ? 

Even  if  the  writer  had  not  reached  the  conviction  that  the  pro¬ 
tective  system  had  failed  in  accomplishing  its  declared  purpose, — and 
even  if  he  had  not  reached  the  conviction  that  it  had  retarded  rather 
than  promoted  the  development  of  agriculture  and  manufactures  by 
obstructing  commerce, — he  would  nevertheless  have  advocated  a  return 
to  the  policy  of  free  trade,  so  far  as  it  may  be  consistent  with  the 
necessity  of  securing  a  revenue  from  imports  for  the  support  of  a 
national  government,  on  these  moral  and  ethical  grounds  only.  But  in 
this  as  in  all  other  matters  affecting  human  welfare,  there  is  a  true  har¬ 
mony  in  all  the  phases  of  life.  That  policy  which  can  be  defended 
wholly  on  moral  and  ethical  grounds  is  the  policy  which  will  econom¬ 
ically  yield  the  best  results,  or,  in  common  speech,  will  pay  the  best  in  the 
long  run.  Their  is  neither  permanent  pay  nor  permanent  profit  in  any 
material  work  which  cannot  be  justified  morally  and  ethically  as  well  as 
politically  and  socially. 

The  special  occupation  of  the  writer  forbids  any  active  participation 
in  the  immediate  contest  ;  suffice  it  that  in  this  attempt  to  measure  the 
material  progress  of  the  nation  by  facts  and  figures  he  may  have  cleared 
away  some  of  the  misconceptions,  especially  in  regard  to  what  makes 
the  rate  of  wages ,  so  that  the  virulence  of  the  contest  may  be  lessened, 
to  the  end  that  right  conclusions  may  be  reached  by  a  reasonable  com¬ 
promise  among  intelligent  men,  who  on  the  protective  side  may  claim 
and  on  the  free-trade  side  may  admit,  that  any  system  of  taxation 
which  has  been  long  continued  should  be  carefully  and  judiciously 
treated  in  the  process  of  removing  these  taxes  which  even  on  their  own 
merits  could  not  have  been  justified  when  first  imposed. 

•  When  the  tariffs  of  1861  and  1863  were  first  adopted,  on  the  basis  of 
which  all  subsequent  tariffs,  including  the  act  now  in  force,  have  been 
modeled,  the  main  purpose  was  to  provide  a  great  revenue  for  the 


What  Shall  be  Taxed?  What  Shall  be  Exempt?  273 


•conduct  of  the  war  and  to  adjust  tariff  and  internal  taxation  on  the 
same  basis.  Under  such  conditions  little  attention  could  be  given  to 
the  science  of  taxation.  Subsequently  both  the  demand  of  the  war  itself 
and  the  tariff  have  greatly  altered  the  relative  conditions  and  the  direc¬ 
tion  of  industry  from  what  they  would  have  been  had  the  comparatively 
low  tariff  of  1857  remained  in  force.  It  may  be  rightly  held  that  those 
who  are  engaged  in  such  branches  of  work,  which  have  been  so  changed, 
should  be  duly  considered  and  consulted  in  the  progress  of  amend¬ 
ment  ;  but  the  chief  obstruction  to  rightful  change  grows  out  of 
mutual  distrust  and  the  imputation  of  purely  selfish  motives  on  both 
sides. 

When  men  who  are  accustomed  to  co-operate  in  all  the  other  work 
of  life  apply  common-sense  to  the  tariff  question,  the  whole  obscurity, 
difficulty,  and  complexity  may  be  removed. 

Putting  entirely  aside  any  ethical  or  political  questions  affecting  the 
controversy  between  the  respective  advocates  of  protection  and  of  freer 
trade,  and  taking  up  the  subject  in  a  practical  way  as  it  now  stands, 
there  are  probably  very  few  persons  competent  to  pass  judgment  upon 
the  subject,  and  who  are  free  from  personal  or  political  bias,  who  hav¬ 
ing  investigated  the  effect  of  high  duties  upon  wool  would  not  or  have 
not  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  respective  interests  both  of  the 
wool  grower  and  of  the  woolen  manufacturer  would  be  promoted  by 
putting  wool  into  the  free  list  and  adjusting  the  duties  on  fabrics  on 
a  lower  basis  than  at  present  so  long  as  duties  may  be  imposed  on 
woolen  fabrics. 

In  respect  to  iron  and  steel  it  might  be  admitted,  as  I  have  pre¬ 
viously  stated,  that  the  great  stimulus  given  to  production  in  this  coun¬ 
try  by  way  of  the  duty  on  foreign  imports,  had  developed  this  branch 
of  work  more  rapidly  than  would  otherwise  have  happened  ;  and  it 
might  even  be  true  that  this  policy  had  reduced  the  price  the  world 
over.  Yet  I  think  if  the  sense  of  antagonism  could  once  be  laid  aside, 
and  if  reasonable  men  could  take  up  this  subject  exactly  as  it  now  lies, 
they  could  not  fail  to  reach  the  conclusion  that  it  would  be  for  the 
joint  interests  of  the  iron-  and  coal-miner,  the  owner  of  the  blast-fur¬ 
nace  and  of  the  rolling-mill,  as  well  as  of  the  consumers  of  iron,  to  put 
ores  and  coal  immediately  into  the  free  list  ;  and  either  to  take  every 
duty  off  from  pig-iron  at  once  or  by  successive  stages  at  20  per  cent, 
per  year,  reducing  the  duties  on  the  more  finished  products  so  as  to 
meet  the  new  conditions  ;  and  to  this  end  I  submit  the  following  facts 
for  what  they  may  be  worth.  In  the  previous  text  I  have  referred  to 
the  researches  of  Mr.  David  A.  Wells  and  to  the  figures  which  he  may 
give  in  a  forthcoming  work  ;  he  has  made  use  of  the  actual  data  given 
in  the  yearly  Abstract  of  the  Iron  and  Steel  Association,  and  of  other 

■equally  authentic  figures,  without  venturing  upon  any  estimates  ;  and 
18 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


274 


he  has  covered  the  period  from  1878  to  1887  inclusive.  I  have  omitted 
1878  and  1879,  and  computed  1888  and  1889,  venturing  upon  some 
estimates  for  the  present  year,  1889. 

On  the  basis  of  these  authentic  data  and  estimates,  the  consumption 
of  iron  and  steel  in  the  United  States,  less  than  a  very  small  export, 
has  been  as  follows  : 

NET  TONS  2,000  LBS.  EACH. 


1880 .  6,408,754 

1881  . 5,964,002 

1882  .  6,513,493 

1883  .  5,924,621 

1884  .  5,322,872 

1885  . J .  5,177,764 

1886  . 7,595,720 

1887  .  9,184,447 


Total . 52,091,673 


Domestic . 

Foreign  rails,  bars,  plates,  etc 


41,934,088 

10,157,585 


Total 


52,091,673 


In  addition  to  the  above  imported  metal  there  has  been  a  very  large 
importation  of  machinery,  hardware,  cutlery,  firearms,  etc.,  for  which 
there  are  no  data  for  computing  the  weight.  Adding  this  element  by 
estimate,  and  this  consumption  of  iron  in  the  United  States  has  proba¬ 
bly  been  nearly  30  per  cent,  of  the  product  of  the  whole  period. 

In  1888  the  domestic  production  was  a  little  over  that  of  1887 — the 
import  somewhat  less.  In  1889  our  production  is  increasing,  and  the 
import,  especially  of  machinery,  is  large  ;  the  total  consumption  of  the 
two  years  cannot  be  much  less  than  18,000,000  tons,  or  nearly  forty  per 
cent,  of  the  total  product  of  the  world. 

Without  adding  any  thing  for  imported  machinery,  hardware,  etc., 
the  consumption  of  the  United  States  in  ten  years  ending  December 
31,  1889,  will  have  been  over  70,000,000  tons  of  iron  :  adding  by 
estimate  the  weight  of  all  the  machinery,  hardware,  etc.,  the  total  con¬ 
sumption  has  been  about  72,000,000  tons,  about  one  third  to  one  half 
in  the  form  of  steel. 

The  present  consumption  of  the  United  States  only,  being  now,  if 
not  quite,  yet  nearly  equal  to  the  world’s  total  product  of  1865  and  1866. 

The  question  now  arises,  How  much  have  the  iron  and  steel  con¬ 
sumed  in  the  United  States  cost  our  consumers  in  excess  of  the  cost  of 
the  same  materials  to  consumers  supplied  in  and  by  Great  Britain  ;  it 
being  remembered  that  our  consumption  is  now  in  excess  of  the  total 
product  of  Great  Britain  ? 


What  Shall  be  Taxed?  What  Shall  be  Exempt  ?  275 

For  the  purpose  of  computing  this  disparity  or  relative  disadvan¬ 
tage,  I  take  the  quotations  of  the  highest  annual  prices  in  Great  Britain, 
Scotch  pig-iron,  and  average  prices  of  anthracite  foundry  iron  in  Phila¬ 
delphia  as  quoted  per  gross  ton  in  the  Statistical  Abstract  of  the  Iron 
and  Steel  Association  from  1880  to  1887  ;  assuming  that  the  difference 
in  1888  and  1889  has  been  the  same  as  the  average  of  these  years  : 


Anthracite  foundry  averaged . $22  42 

Scotch  pig  at  24  cts.  to  a  shilling .  12  54 

Difference .  $9  88 

per  gross  ton  ;  equal  to  $8  82  per  net  ton. 


Our  comsumption  has  been  70,000,000  net  tons,  which  at  $8  82  per 
ton  gives  the  total  excess  of  cost  of  iron  in  this  country  as  compared 
to  consumers  of  British  iron  for  ten  years,  $617,400,000  ;  equal  to 
$61,700,000  per  annum.  I  have  tested  these  averages  by  computing 
the  actual  difference  of  each  year,  1880  to  1887,  on  the  actual  con¬ 
sumption  of  each  year,  and  I  find  the  result  comes  rateably  to  more  than 
the  above,  the  greatest  difference  in  price  falling  on  the  years  of  great¬ 
est  demand  and  consumption,  as  one  would  naturally  expect. 

On  comparing  the  relative  consumption  I  find  that  considerably  over 
one  third  of  our  iron  is  converted  into  steel  prior  to  consumption,  and 
also  that  the  difference  in  price  of  the  higher  grades  of  iron  has  been 
more  than  that  on  foundry  iron.  This  disparity  in  the  price  of  steel, 
added  to  that  on  iron,  ranges  from  $7  to  $15  per  ton,  but  calling  it 
only  $6,  on  25,000,000  tons  we  get  $150,000,000  to  be  added  to  the 
difference  on  iron. 

A  truer  standard  of  comparison  than  Scotch  pig  would  be  common 
English  foundry  iron,  worth  about  $1  per  ton  less  than  Scotch.  Add¬ 
ing  $1  on  the  quantity  represented  by  our  domestic  production  of  about 
58,000,000  tons  makes  $58,000,000. 


SUMMARY. 

Disparity  on  Scotch  pig  and  anthracite  foundry,  70,000,000  at  $8  82 . $617,400,000 

Add  on  steel  not  less  than  25,000,000  at  $6 .  150,000,000 

Add  on  58,000,000  tons  domestic  to  adjust  the  standard  to  English  iron.  .  58,000,000 

Actual  total . $825,400,000 

Deduct  for  contingencies,  errors,  or  variations,  say . 125,400,000 

Computed  difference . $700,000,000 


These  figures  prove  that  the  prices  of  iron  and  steel,  both  domestic 
and  foreign,  have  been  maintained  above  those  of  other  countries  in  a 
sum  nearly  equal  to  the  duties  and  freight  charges,  a  somewhat  rare 
case.  In  the  matter  of  wool  the  price  of  domestic  wool  has  been  dimin¬ 
ished,  and  in  respect  to  the  useful  grades  of  textile  fabrics,  domestic 


276 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


competition  has  sufficed  to  keep  the  prices  much  below  foreign  prices 
with  duties  added,  on  all  staple  fabrics. 

Iron  is  singular  because  the  demand  for  consumption  is  imperative. 
In  spite  of  our  having  doubled  our  domestic  production,  we  have  been 
forced  to  import  over  20  per  cent,  of  our  supply  for  the  last  ten  years, 
and  although  cost  and  price  have  both  been  reduced  here  and  else¬ 
where  by  the  improvements  and  inventions  of  recent  years,  the  reduc¬ 
tion  of  price  in  Great  Britain  has  been  greater  than  in  this  country 
We  may  pass  over  the  period  of  war  and  paper  money  in  making  this 
comparison.  ■ 

The  average  prices  given  in  the  Statistical  Abstract  of  the  Iron  and 
Steel  Association  of  the  United  Stated  are  as  follows  : 

Anthracite  foundry  iron  in  Philadelphia,  average  of  each  year  combined  : 

1850  to  1859.  . . gold . $26  47 

1878  to  1887 .  “  21  87 

Reduction  17  and  38-100  per  cent . $  4  60 

Scotch  pig-iron,  highest  prices  of  each  year  combined  : 

1850  to  1859 . gold . $17  05 

1878  to  1887 . .  . .  .  “  .  1291 

Reduction  24  and  36-100  per  cent . $4  14 

In  proportion  to  the  reduction  of  price  both  in  this  country  and 
elsewhere,  the  difference  in  price  paid  by  our  consumers  becomes  a 
greater  and  greater  disadvantage.  The  present  difference,  about  equal 
to  the  rates  of  duty  and  freight,  ranges  from  75  to  80  per  cent,  on  iron 
and  steel,  according  to  kind  and  quality,  while  the  duties  on  machinery 
are  only  45  per  cent.,  which  with  packing  charges  added  leaves  our 
machinists  subject  to  a  differential  tax  of  20  to  30  per  cent.,  from  which 
their  British  competitors  are  free. 

The  disparity  in  the  present  year  is  somewhat  less  than  the  average 
of  the  whole  period  ;  but  computing  the  total  consumption  of  1887, 
1888,  and  1889  at  28,000,000  net  tons,  two  thirds  iron  and  one  third 
steel,  the  excess  of  the  cost  of  iron  and  steel  to  the  consumers  of  iron 
in  this  country  as  compared  to  the  cost  to  consumers  supplied  by  Great 
Britain,  has  been  $60,000,000  to  $70,000,000  each  year.  The  revenue 
to  the  United  States  on  iron  ores  and  pig-iron  comes  to  less  than 
$4,000,000  a  year.  The  cost  of  this  revenue  to  our  consumers  is  over 
many-fold  in  respect  not  to  actual  cost,  but  to  disparity  in  price. 

Since  1887  it  has  become  apparent  that  the  increasing  demand  for 
iron  and  steel  no  longer  depends  upon  the  activity  of  railway  construc¬ 
tion  in  the  United  States,  as  it  apparently  did  up  to  1886  or  1887  ; 
since  the  latter  date  it  has  fallen  off  two  thirds  in  two  years.  It  is 
evident  that  the  demand  of  the  world  for  iron  and  steel  is  increasing 
very  rapidly  ;  also  that  the  low  prices  that  have  lately  prevailed  have 


What  Shall  be  Taxed?  What  Shall  be  Exempt?  277 


led  to  a  very  great  increase  of  demand,  especially  in  the  United  States 
for  other  purposes  than  railway  construction.  On  the  other  hand  it  is 
evident  that  these  low  prices  must  be  very  profitable  to  the  producers 
of  domestic  iron,  since  our  present  product  is  double  that  of  1879. 

This  increase  of  the  world’s  demand  on  Great  Britain  is  met  by  a 
diminishing  supply  of  fine  ores  : — twenty  per  cent,  of  her  supply  of  ores 
being  imported  from  Spain,  Sweden,  and  Africa,  and  by  an  increasing 
cost  of  coke  owing  to  the  great  depth  and  heat  of  the  Durham  mines 
and  the  narrowness  of  the  veins  ;  hence  it  is  evident  that  any  sudden 
increase  of  demand  on  Great  Britain  would  be  followed  by  a  rapid 
advance  both  in  the  price  and  cost  of  British  iron  and  steel. 

If  the  price  of  iron  and  steel  could  be  equalized  in  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States  by  raising  the  price  of  iron  there  rather  than  by 
lowering  it  here,  an  enormous  advantage  would  be  gained  by  this 
country,  and  it  is  becoming  evident  that  while  this  change  may  not  be 
far  off  in  any  event,  it  might  be  hastened  or  brought  about  at  once  by 
immediately  removing  all  duties  on  ores  and  coal,  and  ultimately  on 
crude  iron  and  steel  in  this  country. 

It  is- not  easy  to  forecast  the  increase  of  demand  on  Great  Britain 
from  other  points  than  the  United  States,  but  it  is  not  difficult  to  fore¬ 
cast  the  increase  of  demand  in  the  United  States.  Our  per  capita 
consumption  of  iron  in  1880  and  1881  was  about  270  lbs.  In  1888  and 
1889  it  was  about  320  lbs.,  an  increase  of  . 50  lbs.  per  head.  We  shall 
add  20,000,000  to  our  population  in  the  next  ten  years.  There  is  every 
reason  to  expect  a  more  rapid  increase  in  the  use  of  iron  and  steel  for 
structural  purposes  and  for  machinery,  in  the  future  than  in  the  past, 
while  the  normal  construction  of  railways  for  short  lines  and  connec¬ 
tions  must  soon  bring  about  a  much  greater  demand  for  railway 
purposes  than  the  present.  Again,  if  the  price  of  iron  were  equalized 
on  the  two  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  there  would  be  an  enormous  increase 
in  our  use  of  iron  in  building  ocean  steamers  and  in  constructing 
heavy  machinery  for  export. 

If  we  assume  an  increase  of  50  lbs.  per  capita  in  the  next  ten  years, 
and  a  population  of  85,000,000  in  1890,  the  consumption  of  iron  in 
that  year  will  be  15,725,000  net  tons,  or  more  than  double  our  present 
product  at  370  lbs.  each. 

The  recent  address  of  the  President  of  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute 
of  Great  Britain  gives  conclusive  proof  that  the  only  source  of  supply 
for  the  increasing  demand  of  the  world  for  iron  must  be  met  on  this 
continent,  by  the  complete  development  of  the  deposits  of  the  mari¬ 
time  provinces  of  Canada,  and  the  yet  more  adequate  supplies  of  the 
middle  and  southern  United  States  ;  in  Nova  Scotia,  Virginia,  Ken¬ 
tucky,  Tennessee,  the  Carolinas,  Georgia,  and  Alabama,  where  the 
deposits  of  iron  and  coal  are  in  close  proximity  and  near  the  surface, 


278 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


supplemented  in  their  conversion  into  the  higher  forms  by  the  natural 
gas  and  oil  of  western  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio. 

It  would  seem  as  if  the  general  conclusion  derived  from  all  the  facts 
now  apparent  might  be,  that  we  have  touched  the  lowest  prices  of  iron 
for  the  present,  and  that  since  Great  Britain  and  Germany  probably 
could  not  add  even  two  or  three  million  tons  to  their  present  produc¬ 
tion  without  such  an  advance  in  price  and  cost  as  would  remove  them 
from  any  future  competition  with  this  continent,  we  may  witness  a 
general  advance  in  price  throughout  the  world  erelong.  If  then  we 
should  remove  all  duties,  our  present  very  profitable  prices  would  not 
be  reduced,  but  our  consumers  would  be  secured  for  all  time  against 
competition  in  ship-building,  machinery  and  hardware  for  domestic 
use,  and  would  take  a  very  large  share  in  the  supply  of  the  increasing 
demand  of  other  countries. 

When  all  these  facts  are  made  known  and  their  bearing  duly 
weighed  it  may  not  be  hopeless  to  expect  an  increasing  number  of  the 
members  of  the  Iron  and  Steel  Association  to  join  in  asking  the  im¬ 
mediate  or  substantial  restoration  of  the  revenue  system  of  1857  to 
1861,  to  wit  :  ores  and  coal  free  of  duty  ;  pig-iron  at  not  over  25  per 
cent.,  with  further  remission  at  the  rate  of  five  to  ten  per  cent,  per 
annum  until  pig-iron  shall  also  be  free. 

It  is  possible  that  one  may  find  my  measure  of  the  difference  in 
price  rather  too  low,  but  perhaps  it  has  been  considered  prudent  for 
me  to  discount  about  22  per  cent,  for  contingencies.  In  this  case  the 
final  issue  would  be,  as  before  given  : 

Apparent  disadvantage  of  the  United  States  in  the  cost  of 


iron  and  steel,  1880  to  1889,  incl. . .  $825,400,000 

Discount  for  contingencies .  .  125,400,000 

;  - 

Net  disadvantage .  $700,000  000 


Say  $65,000,000  to  $80,000,000  per  year  1880  to  1889,  average  $70,000,000  for  ten 
years,  probably  over  $80,000,000  in  the  year  1888. 

Mr.  Wells  has  treated  the  decade  1878  to  1887  in  his  forthcoming 
book.  His  more  guarded  statements  on  the  decade  in  which  the  small 
consumption  of  1878  and  1879  take  the  place  of  my  large  estimates  for 
1888  and  1889,  will,  I  believe,  substantially  coincide  with  my  final  com¬ 
putation,  after  my  deduction  for  contingencies  from  what  the  actual 
figures  show. 

In  view  of  the  necessary  effect  upon  the  price  of  iron  in  Great 
Britain,  which  must  of  necessity  have  ensued  from  the  obstruction  to 
free  imports  from  there,  in  a  country  which  consumes  over  a  third  of 
the  total  product  of  the  world,  retarding  a  rise  in  price  there  while 
such  obstruction  has  existed,  it  would  seem  that,  with  a  growing 
scarcity  of  fine  ores,  increasing  cost  of  coke,  and  an  increasing  demand 


What  Shall  be  Taxed ?  What  Shall  be  Exempt  ?  279 


throughout  the  world,  the  effect  of  an  immediate  abatement  of  our 
duties  could  not  fail  to  cause  a  great  advance  in  price  in  Great  Britain 
and  later  in  the  cost  of  all  foreign  iron.  This  would  serve  for  all  time 
for  the  protection  of  our  pig-iron  product  in  the  most  effectual  man¬ 
ner  and  would  probably  lead  erelong  to  the  export  of  iron  from 
Alabama  to  England  ;  in  such  event  repeating  history  and  following 
the  course  of  trade  in  iron  of  the  last  century,  when  our  charcoal  iron 
was  exported  from  the  colonies  to  Great  Britain.  Under  such  con¬ 
ditions  our  consumers  of  crude  iron  and  steel  would  also  be  protected 
in  the  most  effectual  manner  by  the  removal  of  the  differential  tax 
which  now  oppresses  them,  thus  giving  them  a  chance  to  compete  on 
even  or  better  terms  with  the  consumers  of  iron  and  steel  in  Great 
Britain  and  Germany. 

The  final  conclusion  may  be  that  the  most  effectual  protection  of 
the  iron  and  steel  interests  of  the  United  States  would  consist  in  the 
immediate  removal  of  all  duties  on  ores  and  coal  and  the  immediate 
reduction  of  duties  on  crude  iron  and  steel  to  20  or  25  per  cent,  with 
a  view  to  their  entire  abatement  at  an  early  day  ;  and  finally  in  the  re¬ 
duction  of  all  duties  on  the  finished  products  of  iron  and  steel  so  as  to 
adjust  them  fairly  to  these  new  conditions. 

These  figures  may  be  subject  to  exception  as  to  the  prices  taken  for 
comparison — to  wit,  Scotch  pig-iron  in  Great  Britain  and  anthracite 
foundry  iron  in  this  country. 

I  have  discounted  over  15  per  cent,  for  the  contingency  ;  if  that 
does  not  suffice,  then  the  burden  of  proof  must  fall  on  the  advocates 
of  the  existing  system  to  prove  that  the  computed  difference  in  the  cost 
of  iron  to  American  cpnsumers  has  been  less  ;  and  also  that  the  advan¬ 
tage  of  the  present  system  has  been  greater  than  the  price  which  we 
have  paid  for  it. 

Until  these  facts  and  figures  can  be  determined  by  agreement  the 
discussion  of  the  revenue  system  will  remain  unsatisfactory  and  can 
lead  to  no  judicious  settlement  of  a  controversy  which  may  soon 
become  very  bitter. 

More  than  twenty  years  ago  the  writer  was  invited  to  become  one 
of  a  party  to  make  an  excursion  through  Pennsylvania,  of  which 
many  of  the  members  were  persons  in  high  office  or  of  great  influence  ; 
he  had  not  then  become  as  profoundly  convinced  as  he  has  since  be¬ 
come,  that  the  true  policy  of  this  country  would  be  to  remove  all  ob¬ 
structions  to  commerce  with  other  nations  ;  he  therefore  went  through 
Pennsylvania  governed  by  the  impression  which  he  had  derived  from 
the  persistent  representation  of  members  of  the  Gongress  of  the  United 
States  from  Pennsylvania  almost  from  the  beginning  of  the  nation,  that 
unless  the  coal  and  iron  of  the  State  were  worked  the  people  of  Penn¬ 
sylvania  would  be  incapable  of  self-support ;  and  also  under  the  impres- 


28o 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


i 


sion  that  they  were  incapable  of  working  their  coal  and  iron  mines 
without  the  special  support  of  the  national  government  through  taxation 
on  foreign  imports  {  but,  as  the  party  went  on,  making  an  occasional  stay 
here  and  there,  through  the  southern  counties  of  Pennsylvania,  in  which 
then  and  now  the  greatest  value  of  agricultural  products  was  to  be  found 
as  compared  to  any  counties  in  any  other  part  of  the  country, — to  the 
timber  sections,  and  thence  by  the  coal-mines  and  iron-works, — he 
learned  that  the  people  of  this  State  had  been  blinded  in  regard  to 
their  own  resources,  and  had  put  forward  what  was  in  fact  a  very  in¬ 
significant  branch  even  of  their  own  industry,  as  the  mainstay  of  the 
whole  community. 

Since  then  the  huge  product  of  petroleum  and  the  development  of 
the  gas  wells  have  been  added  to  the  natural  resources  of  this  great 
State  ;  and  yet  if  the  representations  of  its  senators  and  of  the  ma¬ 
jority  of  its  members  in  the  House  of  Representatives  are  to  be  ac¬ 
cepted,  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  is  incapable  of  self-support  without 
special  legislation  in  support  of  the  iron  industry  on  the  part  of  the 
national  Congress.  What  could  be  expected  under  such  conditions  ? 
The  two  men  of  whom  Pennsylvania  is  most  proud,  but  who  were  not 
natives  of  that  State,  did  not  hold  these  views — Benjamin  Franklin 
and  Albert  Gallatin. 

What  are  the  facts?  In  the  year  1880  the  State  of  Pennsylvania 
had  a  population  of  4,282,891,  of  whom  1,457,067  were  earning  a  living 
for  themselves  and  for  the  rest,  being  occupied  for  gain  in  all  the  arts 
of  life.  If  we  assign  to  the  blast-furnaces  that  number  of  the  coal¬ 
miners  and  workers  in  and  about  coal-mines,  corresponding  to  the  pro¬ 
portion  of  coal  and  coke  used  in  blast-furnaces,  there  were  less  than 
10,000  coal  miners  and  workers  who  were  dependent  upon  making  pig- 
iron.  In  the  same  art  there  were  less  than  22,000  men  and  boys  occu¬ 
pied  in  all  the  iron-mines  and  blast-furnaces  of  the  State,  all  counted  ; 
and  there  were  less  than  3,000  in  the  coke  ovens.  Thirty-five  thousand, 
or  three  per  cent,  of  those  who  were  occupied  for  gain  in  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  were  all  that  depended  on  pig-ion  for  getting  a  living  in  1880, 
out  of  over  1,450,000  occupied  in  all  arts.  These  people  were  not  the 
ones  whom  the  State  would  put  forward  as  examples  of  the  type  of  civ¬ 
ilization  of  which  Pennsylvania  is  proud.  In  one  sense  they  were  not 
exemplars  of  American  labor  at  all  ;  they  were  men  of  all  nationalities, 
a  large  part  of  them  specially  imported  to  do  the  kind  of  work  which 
native  Americans  are  not  willing  and  are  not  obliged  to  do  because  of 
the  adverse  conditions  under  which  it  is  carried  on.  The  conditions 
of  underground  life  and  in  face  of  the  fiery  furnace  do  not  conduce 
to  a  very  high  type  of  manhood,  and  very  few  natives  of  the  United 
States  will  accept  these  conditions.  They  can  do  better.  Now  in 
order  to  give  special  support  to  this  little  petty  force,  all  the  workers 


What  Shall  be  Taxed ?  What  Shall  be  Exempt?  281 


in  iron  and  the  converters  of  iron  and  steel  to  their  higher  forms  in  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania  and  elsewhere  have  been  subjected  to  a  tax  which 
has  caused  the  price  of  their  iron  and  steel  to  be  $7  to  $14  a  ton  higher 
than  that  paid  by  their  competitors  in  Great  Britain,  whatever  the  ac¬ 
tual  price  may  have  been  on  the  average  throughout  this  period  of  ten 
years  from  1879  to  1888  inclusive.  Nowit  may  happen  that  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  may  soon  be  deprived  of  a  considerable  part  of  the  production 
of  pig-iron  by  the  competition  of  Alabama  and  of  other  parts  of  the 
country.  Will  Pennsylvania  then  cease  to  be  a  great  and  powerful 
State  because  perhaps  one  half  of  a  little  petty  force  who  do  not  to-day 
number  more  than  50,000,  if  as  many,  cannot  find  this  particular  kind 
of  work  to  do  ?  May  it  not,  perhaps,  be  a  blessing  in  disguise,  even  in 
Pennsylvania,  if  a  system  of  special  legislation  which  has  for  so  long 
a  period  belittled  her  public  men  and  depraved  her  politics  should  be 
done  away  with  ?  Will  not  men  then  come  to  the  front  who  are  capa¬ 
ble  of  directing  the  huge  resources  that  lie  within  her  territory,  without 
haunting  the  lobby  of  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  and  trying 
to  get  special  assistance  in  conducting  work  which  is  in  itself  of  very 
slight  importance  even  to  the  mass  of  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  ? 
May  not  Pennsylvania  then  become  represented  in  Congress  and  else¬ 
where  by  men  whose  political  capacity  in  a  higher  sense  may  be  equal 
to  her  huge  opportunity  in  material  production  ? 

The  reform  of  the  civil  service  has  become,  in  the  judgment  of  so 
many  voters,  the  matter  of  paramount  interest  in  this  country  as  to  have 
compelled  the  leaders  of  both  political  parties  to  defer  to  their  judg¬ 
ment  whether  they  wish  to  or  not.  If  attention  be  given  to  the  reform 
of  the  civil  service  in  Great  Britain,  and  to  the  necessary  conditions  of 
complete  reform  in  this  country,  it  may  be  found  that  it  becomes 
possible,  and  has  been  or  will  be  brought  about  only  in  just  proportion 
to  the  determination  of  the  people  that  public  legislation  shall  not  be 
diverted  to  purposes  of  private  gain.  It  may  be  held  that  so  long  as 
special  privileges  can  be  created  by  law,  corruption  in  the  civil  service 
will  continue.  It  may  therefore  follow  that  the  reform  of  the  civil 
service  can  only  proceed  in  due  relation  to  the  reform  of  the  tariff 
system  of  the  United  States. 

It  might  well  be  remembered,  that  aside  from  any  question  of 
morals  or  politics,  the  system  of  slavery  was  a  great  economic  blunder; 
none  are  more  fully  convinced  of  this  at  the  present  time  than  the  very 
leaders  of  the  Southern  States  who  fought  out  the  war  to  the  bitter  end 
by  which  slavery  destroyed  itself.  It  was  assumed  by  the  Southern 
leaders  who  were  conspicuous  at  the  time  when  the  abolition  sentiment 
at  the  North  began  to  work  upon  the  community  : 

1st.  That  the  only  possible  relation  in  which  the  black  and  white 
races  could  dwell  together  in  the  same  land,  was  that  of  master  and 


282 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


slave.  But  now,  as  the  grandson  of  one  of  the  foremost  of  the  South¬ 
ern  leaders  lately  said  to  me,  after  having  described  his  success  in  con¬ 
ducting  large  plantations  with  free  negroes,  in  answer  to  my  question 
“  What  would  your  grandfather  have  said  to  your  statement  ?” — “If 
my  grandfather  had  known  as  much  about  the  negro  as  I  know  there  would 
have  been  no  slavery  and  no  war.” 

2d.  Another  stupendous  mistake,  economically  speaking,  which 
pervaded  both  South  and  North,  and  which  led  to  the  subserviency 
of  the  so-called  cotton  whigs  in  their  dealings  with  the  Southern 
States  ;  especially  when  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  was  passed  and  Daniel 
Webster  attempted  to  surrender  the  liberty  of  the  people  to  the  intol¬ 
erant  demands  of  slavery,  was  that  the  cultivation  of  cotton  especially, 
and  also  rice  and  sugar,  depended  absolutely  upon  slave  labor  ;  and  that 
without  the  production  of  cotton,  rice,  and  sugar  the  Southern  States 
would  be  incapable  of  gaining  their  own  subsistence.  This  terrible 
blunder  in  regard  to  cotton  misled  even  the  most  intelligent  Southern 
men,  as  the  error  in  regard  to  iron  has  misled  the  people  of  Pennsyl¬ 
vania.  It  will  not  require  a  civil  war  to  correct  the  error  in  regard  to 
iron,  as  it  did  to  correct  the  blunders  in  regard  to  cotton.  A  due  re¬ 
gard  to  the  reform  of  the  civil  service  only,  and  to  the  removal  of  the 
present  causes  of  corruption  in  the  civil  service,  may  suffice  to  open 
the  way  for  Pennsylvania  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  the  progress  which  may 
be  made  within  her  lines,  whenever  the  domination  of  her  iron-masters 
is  overcome.  Such  progress  may  perhaps  correspond  in  somewhat 
similar  measure  to  the  progress  which  is  now  being  made  in  the  New 
South  since  the  domination  of  the  slave-masters  has  been  removed 
from  that  section  of  our  common  country. 

The  question  now  recurs,  “  What  imports  should  be  taxed  and  what 
should  be  free  ?  ”  If  the  points  presented  in  this  treatise  have  been 
well  taken,  it  is  of  course  impossible  to  grant  just  and  equal  protection 
to  all  branches  of  industry  and  all  occupations  by  means  of  any  system 
of  duties,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  there  could  be  no  foreign  import 
which  would  in  any  way  compete  with  a  product  of  like  kind  in  this 
country  to  any  considerable  extent,  in  respect  to  ninety  per  cent,  of  all 
our  domestic  products.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  unquestionably 
more  persons  engaged  or  occupied  in  raising  crops,  or  in  the  manufac¬ 
turing  and  mechanic  arts,  whose  market  is  wholly  foreign  and  who  de¬ 
pend  absolutely  upon  exports,  than  there  are  in  all  the  arts  in  which 
even  a  part  of  the  product  could  be  imported. 

Again,  it  is  admitted  by  both  parties  in  this  discussion,  that  suitable 
discrimination  should  be  used  when  providing  for  the  taxation  of  im¬ 
ports,  in  order  to  adjust  the  taxes  so  as  to  promote  domestic  industry 
to  the  utmost,  so  far  as  domestic  industry  can  be  affected  one  way  or 
the  other  by  taxation. 


What  Shall  be  Taxed?  What  Shall  be  Exempt  283 


To  that  end  it  may  be  held  that  it  is  distinctly  unfit  to  tax 
•common  articles  of  food  which  are  of  necessary  use.  Sugar  may  be 
•classed  either  as  an  article  of  necessary  use  or  article  of  voluntary 
consumption,  therefore  it  stands  apart.  Under  the  pressure  of  absolute 
necessity  for  a  large  revenue  sugar  may  rightly  be  taxed,  and  there 
are  a  few  articles  from  which  a  large  revenue  can  be  obtained  with  less 
interference  with  the  freely  chosen  pursuits  of  the  people  than  by  a  tax 
■on  sugar.  If,  however,  there  is  no  necessity  to  secure  a  revenue  for 
sugar,  and  sugar  were  made  free  of  duty,  while  at  the  same  time  all  the 
duties  were  taken  off  of  tin  plates,  there  would  doubtless  be  an  enor¬ 
mous  growth  in  domestic  industry  in  the  preparation  of  condensed 
milk  and  of  canned  fruits  for  export  to  other  countries.  Therefore, 
whenever  there  is  no  longer  any  necessity  for  a  tax  on  sugar,  it  should 
•distinctly  be  put  in  the  free  list,  both  for  the  relief  of  the  consumer 
and  in  order  to  promote  domestic  industry. 

It  may  also  be  admitted  that  if  all  other  duties  were  removed  from 
articles  in  a  crude  condition  which  are  necessary  in  the  various  pro¬ 
cesses  of  domestic  industry,  then  domestic  industry  will  be  promoted 
by  exempting  raw  or  crude  materials  from  taxation  in  tenfold  the 
measure  that  any  single  branch  of  industry  in  the  production  of  crude 
materials  can  be  promoted  by  subjecting  them  to  taxation 

Again,  there  are  many  classes  of  articles  which  are  finished  products 
in  their  way,  which  are  not  ready  for  final  consumption,  but  are  abso¬ 
lutely  required  in  the  further  processes  of  domestic  industry.  Taxes 
imposed  under  a  tariff  upon  such  articles  tend  to  restrict  far  more  than 
they  do  to  promote  the  extension  of  manufactures  and  the  mechanic 
arts.  Reference  being  made  to  the  careful  classification  of  all  imports 
by  the  Treasury  Department,  printed  annually  by  the  Bureau  of  Statis¬ 
tics  in  the  Annual  Report  on  “  Imported  Merchandise  Entering  into 
Consumption,”  it  will  appear  that  the  whole  revenue  derived  during 
the  last  ten  years  from  Class  A,  articles  of  food  and  live  animals, 
Class  B,  articles  in  a  crude  condition  which  are  necessary  in  the 
various  processes  of  domestic  industry,  and  Class  C,  articles  wholly 
or  partly  manufactured,  which  are  used  as  materials  in  the  manu¬ 
facturing  and  mechanic  arts,  has  averaged  less  than  the  annual  excess 
of  revenue  which  it  is  now  so  important  to  keep  out  of  the  treasury 
rather  than  to  put  into  the  treasury. 

The  revenue  of  the  government  from  customs  may  now  be  reduced 
at  least  one  hundred  million  dollars,  without  depriving  the  government 
of  an  ample  income  sufficient  to  cover  all  the  necessary  expenses  of 
government  economically  administered,  including  even  the  heavy  ex¬ 
penditure  for  pensions. 

It  may  therefore  be  held  that  with  the  exception  of  a  few  of  these 
articles  on  which  it  will  be  necessary  to  continue  the  duties  in  order 


284  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 

that  we  may  be  able  to  collect  the  excise  taxes  on  articles  of  like  kind  of 
domestic  production,  all  duties  in  these  three  classes  now  yielding 
about  one  hundred  million  dollars  a  year  may  be  wholly  abated.  This 
answers  the  question,  “  What  articles  should  be  exempt  from  taxes  ?  ” 

In  reply  to  the  first  part  of  the  question,  “  What  imports  should 
then  be  taxed,”  the  answer  may  be  that  Class  D,  manufactured  articles 
ready  for  consumption,  and  Class  E,  articles  of  voluntary  use  or  of 
luxury,  may  then  be  taxed  under  a  new  system  of  duties,  adjusted  to 
the  new  conditions,  at  lower  rates  than  those  which  are  now  imposed, 
without  interfering  with  any  existing  branch  of  manufacturing  to  its 
detriment,  and  yet  yielding  as  large  or  a  larger  revenue  than  the  gov¬ 
ernment  will  continue  to  require  from  duties  upon  imports  (see  subse¬ 
quent  tables). 

If  the  existing  tariff  had  been  carefully  framed,  so  as  to  be  uniform 
and  consistent  in  its  various  provisions,  a  change  or  reduction  could 
be  made  by  percentage,  varying  the  percentage  to  be  taken  off  each 
year,  according  to  the  class  to  which  the  import  might  belong.  But 
since  the  existing  tariff  is  not  consistent,  but  is  badly  framed  and  sub¬ 
ject  to  grave  objection  from  every  standpoint,  whether  that  of  the  high 
protectionist,  the  absolute  free-trader,  or  the  moderate  men  who  stand 
between  these  two  extremes,  the  first  step  in  tariff  reform  ought  to  be 
a  complete  revision  and  adjustment  of  the  tariff  in  all  its  parts,  having 
reference  mainly  to  bringing  all  its  provisions  into  suitable  relations 
each  to  the  other  at  present  rates,  whatever  the  final  policy  in  regard 
to  the  reduction  of  rates  might  be.  It  would  then  matter  little  how 
much  time  should  be  given  to  the  final  abatement  of  duties  or  to  their 
reduction  to  a  revenue  basis,  provided  a  definite  policy  were  adopted 
and  a  moderate  beginning  were  made. 

If  the  method  of  common-sense  be  applied  even  to  the  existing 
tariff  bill,  due  discrimination  being  used  so  as  to  promote  domestic  in¬ 
dustry  to  the  utmost  by  removing  petty  obstructions  and  doing  away 
with  taxes  on  the  crudest  of  crude  materials  and  on  the  most  necessary 
articles  of  food,  coupled  with  the  abatement  of  such  petty  taxes  as  do 
not  yield  revenue  enough  to  pay  for  the  cost  of  collection,  fifty  to  sixty 
per  cent,  of  the  specific  subjects  of  taxation  under  the  present  tariff  in 
point  of  number  could  be  put  into  the  free  list  without  reducing  the 
revenue  now  yielded  by  the  existing  tariff  more  than  fifteen  per  cent. 

Let  it  be  for  once  assumed  that  the  method  of  common-sense  has 
been  applied  in  this  way  by  common  consent,  there  would  remain  a 
comparatively  short  list  of  dutiable  articles.  We  will  next  assume  that 
the  rates  of  duty  on  such  dutiable  articles  had  been  adjusted  so  that 
they  were  consistent  each  with  the  other,  and  so  that  the  average  rate 
on  dutiable  imports  should  be  the  same  as  it  is  now. 

The  matter  of  importance  would  then  be  to  decide  upon  a  distinct 


What  Shall  be  Taxed f  What  Shall  be  Exempt?  285 


line  of  policy  in  making  a  suitable  reduction  upon  these  rates,  and  in 
this  matter  due  consideration  should  be  given  to  the  present  con¬ 
ditions  of  the  arts  which  would  be  affected,  so  that  sufficient  time 
should  be  taken  to  enable  them  to  adapt  themselves  to  the  new  con¬ 
ditions  without  danger  of  any  great  disaster  or  loss. 

Assuming  that  sugar  had  been  treated  separately  with  a  view  to 
revenue  only,  the  duties  which  would  then  remain  in  force  would  con¬ 
sist  of  those  imposed  upon  a  part  of  the  articles  in  Class  C,  articles 
partly  manufactured  for  use  in  the  further  processes  of  domestic  in¬ 
dustry  ;  upon  Class  D,  manufactured  goods  ready  for  consumption, 
and  Class  E,  articles  of  voluntary  use  or  luxury. 

Now  it  happens  that  the  life  of  almost  any  kind  of  modern  ma¬ 
chinery  is  limited  to  a  short  term  of  years,  after  which  the  machine  or 
process  must  be  displaced,  either  because  it  is  so  worn  that  no  further 
repairs  will  make  it  fit  to  be  used  any  longer,  or  because  some  new  in¬ 
vention  has  rendered  it  out  of  date.  For  the  sake  of  the  example  one 
may  say  that  the  apparatus  which  is  made  use  of  for  converting  crude 
materials  into  partly  finished  forms,  which  constitute  the  materials 
required  in  the  further  processes  of  industry,  may  have  a  life  of  ten  to 
fifteen  years,  and  that  the  machinery  which  is  made  use  of  in  the  con¬ 
version  of  crude  or  partly  manufactured  materials  into  goods  and  wares 
ready  for  consumption  may  have  a  life  of  fifteen  to  twenty  years. 

It  may  then  be  assumed  that  it  may  be  necessary  or  expedient  to 
continue  the  duties  on  articles  of  luxury,  or  voluntary  use  with  ref¬ 
erence  only  to  the  amount  of  revenue  which  can  be  derived  from  them. 

Next,  that  it  may  be  expedient  to  continue  moderate  duties  on  fin¬ 
ished  manufactures  for  a  longer  period  than  even  the  life  of  existing 
machinery  ;  but  that  it  would  not  be  expedient  to  continue  any  duties 
or  taxes  which  are  not  required  for  revenue  on  crude  or  partly  manu¬ 
factured  materials  which  are  necessary  in  our  own  domestic  industry. 

If  this  were  the  declared  and  adopted  policy,  to  be  adhered  to 
without  any  departure  from  this  line  of  policy,  and  without  permitting 
any  alteration  to  be  made  in  public  legislation  at  the  instance  of  those 
who  sought  their  private  interest  in  the  matter,  the  simple  method  of 
doing  away  with  the  surplus  revenue,  and  by  the  same  act  promoting 
domestic  manufactures  to  the  utmost,  might  be  after  removing  all  duties 
except  on  sugar  reserved  for  special  treatment,  on  classes  A  and  B,  to 
reduce  the  duties  on  Class  D,  that  is,  upon  articles  partly  manufactured 

which  are  required  in  the  further  processes  of  domestic  industry,  at  the 

* 

rate  of  ten  per  cent,  per  year  for  ten  years  ;  by  the  same  act  reducing 
the  duties  on  Class  E,  covering  manufactured  goods  ready  for  con¬ 
sumption,  at  the  rate  of  five  per  cent,  a  year  for  such  term  of  years 
as  should  bring  them  to  the  point  agreed  upon,  at  which  the  duties 
might  be  retained  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  revenue. 


286 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


In  order  that  this  matter  may  be  more  fully  comprehended,  the 
classification  of  imports  which  has  been  adopted  in  the  treasury,  to¬ 
gether  with  the  respective  amount  of  import  and  the  revenue  there¬ 
from,  is  now  given  : 


Average  of  the  Imports  and  Revenues  Classified  (Disregarding  Fractions). 

For  Nine  Years,  1880  to  1888,  inclusive. 


Annual 

Annual 

Class  A.  Articles  of  food  and  live  animals — 

Import  Value. 

Revenue. 

Sugar  and  molasses . 

$83,000,000 

$50,000,000 

All  other  articles . 

Class  B.  Articles  in  a  crude  condition  which  enter 
into  the  processes  of  domestic  industry — 

39,000,000 

11,000,000 

Coal,  iron-ore,  copper-ore,  pig-iron,  flax, 

1 

hemp,  jute,  wood,  wool,  etc . 

Class  C.  Articles  wholly  or  partly  manufactured 

52,000,000 

16,000,000 

needed  for  use  in  domestic  manufactures  and 

> 

mechanic  arts . 

66,000,000 

20,000,000 

Classes  D  and  E.  Manufactured  goods  ready  for 
consumption  and  articles  of  voluntary  use  or 

$240,000,000 

$97,000,000 

luxuries  . 

$210,000,000 

$101,000,000 

$450,000,000 

$198,000,000 

Average  for  nine  years. — Present  import  and  revenue  six  to  eight  per  cent,  above 
this  average.  Excess  of  revenue  at  the  present  date,  May,  1889,  about  $100,000,000 
per  year  ;  increasing. 

Project  for  Tariff  Reform. 

Average  Revenue 
about  as  below 
for  9  Years. 


A.  Sugar  duties,  wholly  retained,  reduced,  or  wholly  abated,  according 

to  the  assumed  need  of  revenue .  $50,000,000 

Duties  on  live  animals  and  on  all  other  articles  of  food  wholly  re¬ 
moved .  11,000,000 

B.  Crude  or  raw  materials,  wholly  removed  at  once,  or  on  some  arti¬ 

cles,  at  the  rate  of  20  per  cent,  a  year  for  five  years .  16,000,000 

C.  Partly  manufactured  materials,  removed  at  the  rate  of  10  per  cent. 

a  year  for  ten  years .  20,000,000 

D.  Manufactured  goods  reduced  at  the  rate  of  5  per  cent,  a  year  to  \ 

a  revenue  basis . >  101,000,000 

E.  Articles  of  voluntary  use  or  luxuries,  retained  at  present  rates.  .  ) 


$198,000,000 

The  fault  of  this  measure  would  probably  be  that  the  prosperity  of 
the  country  and  the  wide  extension  of  its  commerce  would  tend  to  such 
an  increase  of  consumption  as  to  bring  in  a  larger  revenue  with  each 
reduction  in  the  rates  of  duty.  In  such  event  such  revenue  duties  on 
sugar  as  had  been  retained  might  be  wholly  removed. 


1 


What  Shall  be  Taxed ?  What  Shall  be  Exempt  f  287 


In  view  of  the  admitted  fact  that  the  existing  tariff  act,  which  is 
mainly  the  work  of  the  so-called  Tariff  Commission  appointed  to  revise 
the  forms  as  well  as  the  substance  of  the  law,  is  perhaps  the  most  incon¬ 
sistent  and  ill-adjusted  measure  ever  passed,  leading  to  confusion,  liti¬ 
gation,  evasion,  and  inconsistent  interpretations  at  different  ports, — the 
first  measure  of  reform  already  suggested  might  well  be  adopted  by 
common  consent,  to  wit:  the  preparation  of  an  act,  consistent  in  all  its 
parts,  for  the  assessment  of  duties  at  the  rates  and  in  the  manner  in¬ 
tended  by  the  framers  of  the  existing  law  without  reduction  in  such 
preliminary  act  :  the  choice  might  then  be  presented  either  for  radical 
changes  and  the  enactment  of  a  wholly  new  tariff,  or  for  a  gradual 
change  based  on  the  newly  adjusted  tariff  by  additions  to  the  free  list,, 
and  bv  reductions  by  percentage  covering  a  suitable  term  of  years. 

NOTE. 

October  20,  1889. 

The  computations  on  iron  and  steel  in  this  article  were  made  early  in  the  year 
1889.  On  reviewing  them  I  submitted  them  to  Mr.  James  M.  Swank,  whose  integrity 
as  a  statistician  is  so  well  established,  in  order  that  there  might  be  no  error  in  the  fig¬ 
ures  on  which  the  analysis  is  made.  This  has  led  me  to  reduce  some  of  the  original 
figures  which  were  higher.  On  some  points  our  figures  still  vary.  In  the  per  capita 
consumption  of  iron  I  have  included  by  estimate  the  weight  of  machinery,  hardware, 
etc.,  of  which  the  value  of  the  import  only  is  officially  given.  My  estimate  is  a  little 
higher  than  Mr.  Swank’s. 

Exception  may  be  taken  to  the  selection  of  Scotch  pig-iron  in  Great  Britain,  and 
anthracite  foundry-iron  in  Philadelphia  as  a  standard.  I  am  aware  of  the  great  varia¬ 
tions  in  the  quality  of  iron  on  both  sides  of  the  water,  and  also  in  prices  according  to- 
locality  as  well  as  quality  ;  but  I  have  averaged  Scotch  pig-iron  on  the  highest  price  in 
each  year  as  compared  to  the  average  price  of  anthracite  foundry-iron  in  Philadelphia. 

Moreover,  I  have  estimated  only  one  third  of  the  iron,  or  a  trifle  more,  as  being 
converted  into  steel  ;  Mr.  Swank  shows  that  one  half  the  iron  is  converted  into  steel. 
The  disparity  in  the  price  of  steel  has  been  greater  than  that  of  iron.  Had  I  made  a 
full  estimate  for  this  item  it  would  have  added  $66,000,000  to  my  figures  for  ten  years. 

Again,  the  best  refined  roll  bar-iron  in  Philadelphia  may  be  taken  as  the  equiva¬ 
lent  of  the  best  Staffordshire  bar-iron  in  Great  Britain. 

The  average  price  in  Philadelphia  in  1878  to  1887  inclusive,  of  the  best  bar- 


iron,  has  been .  $50  31 

The  average  of  the  highest  price  each  year  of  Staffordshire  bars  in  England 

has  been . ■ .  36  48 

Disparity .  $13  83 


In  attempting  to  measure  the  disparity  in  price  to  which  the  consumers  of  this 
country  have  been  subjected  as  compared  to  those  supplied  from  British  works,  I  have 
therefore  attempted  to  keep  so  far  within  the  facts  that  no  one  may  gainsay  the  conclu¬ 
sion.  On  these  facts  our  relative  disadvantage  from  1880  to  1889  inclusive  would 
seem  to  have  been  over  $800,000,000  ;  but  in  1889  the  disparity  is  diminishing.  Lest 
this  result  should  be  questioned,  I  have  therefore  deducted  for  contingencies  due  to 
what  some  one  has  called  the  “  total  depravity  of  figures,”  fifteen  per  cent.  But  now 
again,  lest  this  final  result  should  be  questioned,  we  may  take  off  twenty-five  per  cent, 
more,  or  $200,000,000,  thus  reducing  the  disparity  for  ten  years  to  an  average  of 
$50,000,000  a  year,  or  $500,000,000  in  all.  At  this  measure  the  disparity  in  ten 
years  amounts  to  a  sum  exceeding  the  probable  value  of  all  the  iron  mines,  blast- 


288 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


furnaces,  bloomeries,  rolling-mills,  and  steel  works  of  this  country  which  are  now  in 
working  condition  ;  while  the  annual  disparity  in  price  has  been  more  than  the  annual 
sum  paid  directly  to  workmen  in  all  the  iron  mines  and  blast-furnaces  in  the  produc¬ 
tion  of  pig-iron.  In  my  own  analysis  of  the  direct  or  absolute  labor-cost  of  iron  at  the 
mine  and  at  the  furnace  in  1880,  I  made  it  at  the  official  figures  ($8)  eight  dollars  per 
ton,  including  the  cost  of  administration,  but  not  including  cost  of  transportation  of 
material.  It  has  doubtless  been  reduced  since  that  date. 

In  a  memorandum  dated  May  7,  1888,  Mr.  Swank  gives  the  items  of  direct  labor- 


cost  in  a  ton  of  Bessemer  pig-iron  as  follows  : 

Ore:  Labor  in  mining  and  connected  therewith,  per  ton .  $3  24 

Coke  :  “in  mining  coal  and  coking . 1  35 

Limestone :  “  in  quarrying . .  27 

“  at  blast-furnaces . I  46 

“  in  maintenance  of  furnaces . ' .  50 

Total .  $6  82 


Mr.  Swank  charges  iron  with  the  labor  of  transporting  the  materials.  I  do  not. 
In  the  Southern  mines  and  works  it  would  be  very  small,  and  the  same  labor  would  be 
expended  in  moving  finished  iron  when  imported  or  the  products  of  such  iron  ;  it  there¬ 
fore  does  not  form  a  necessary  part  of  the  direct  or  labor-cost  which  is  requisite  to 
securing  our  supplies  of  the  machinery,  etc.,  in  which  iron  is  consumed. 

The  average  of  Mr.  Swank’s  estimate  of  the  absolute  labor-cost  and  my  own  would 
be  $7  50  per  ton.  At  this  rate  the  actual  labor-cost  of  our  product  of  58,000,000  tons 
in  ten  years  has  been  $43,500,000  a  year,  against  a  disparity  at  the  reduced  estimate  of 
$50,000,000  in  the  price  of  our  iron  to  consumers.  In  1880  the  sum  of  wages  paid 
directly  at  mines  and  works  on  a  little  less  than  4,000,000  tons  was  $32,000,000, 
including  the  charge  for  administration.  The  number  of  persons  employed  was  a  little 
under  100,000,  but  the  work  done  corresponded  to  only  about  nine  months’  full  time. 
The  workmen  are  about  one  third  skilled  or  two  thirds  common  laborers  ;  they  doubtless 
average  $400  each  per  year  at  the  present  time.  This  would  give  110,000  men  and  boys 
occupied  in  this  art  for  the  last  ten  years.  The  amount  of  labor  in  the  Southern  mills  is 
less  and  recent  improvements  have  doubtless  reduced  the  number  of  workmen  elsewhere. 

The  object  of  this  treatise  is  to  give  the  basis  of  fact  which  is  necessary  to  an 
intelligent  discussion  of  what  should  be  taxed  and  what  should  be  exempt.  We  may 
reach  equality  in  price  with  Great  Britain,  which  is  rapidly  approaching,  either  under 
the  present  system  or  by  abating  the  taxation  on  the  import  of  iron  and  steel  ;  that 
subject  is  not  a  part  of  the  present  discussion. 

From  1870  to  1879  our  consumption  of  iron  was  almost  exactly  150  lbs.  per  head. 
At  the  present  low  price  it  has  reached  300  lbs.,  and  the  uses  to  which  iron  and  steel 
are  being  applied  are  rapidly  increasing.  If  the  per  capita  consumption  should  go  up 
to  400  lbs. ,  than  which  nothing  is  more  likely  during  the  next  ten  years,  our  population 
which  will  reach  85,000,000  in  1890,  if  not  sooner,  will  require  17,000,000  tons,  our 
present  consumption  averaging  9,000,000  tons.  Cuba  may  be  added  to  our  sources 
of  supply  of  fine  Bessemer  ore  whenever  the  duty  on  iron  ore  is  removed  ;  the  island 
contains  enormous  deposits  easily  worked.  We  are  much  nearer  Cuba  than  Great  Britain. 

It  may  be  held  that  it  is  for  lack  of  attention  to  these  bottom  facts  in  the  choice  of 
subjects  of  taxation  we  are  now  oppressed  by  a  system  of  taxation  upon  imports  at 
much  higher  rates  on  the  materials  which  enter  into  the  processes  of  domestic  industry 
than  are  imposed  upon  the  finished  products.  Such  a  policy  can  only  result  in  helping 
foreign  manufacturers  to  beat  our  own.  It  is  consistent  neither  with  free  trade  nor 
protection. 


PRODUCTION,  DISTRIBUTION, 
CONSUMPTION 


PRODUCTION,  DISTRIBUTION,  CONSUMPTION. 


THE  object  and  end  of  all  productive  labor  or  effort — mental, 
mechanical,  and  manual — is  consumption  ;  that  is  to  say,  all 
efforts  are  directed  to  the  conversion  of  the  primary  products 
of  the  soil,  the  forest,  the  mine,  and  the  sea  into  forms  for  consump¬ 
tion,  of  which  the  sole  purpose  is  to  sustain,  clothe,  and  shelter  the 
human  body  for  the  time  being.  A  part  of  such  consumption  is  so 
directed  that  while  it  furnishes  the  means  of  living  to  those  who  do 
the  work,  it  at  the  same  time  converts  a  part  of  the  annual  product  into 
a  permanent  or  durable  form  constituting  wealth  or  capital. 

Practically  nothing  is  or  can  be  saved  or  added  to  the  stock  of 
wealth  in  its  primary  or  crude  form. 

The  inequalities  among  men  consist — 
i  st.  In  the  inequality  of  consumption. 

2d.  In  the  inequality  of  possession. 

The  prime  object  of  the  possession  of  land  or  of  other  property  is 
to  give  positive  assurance  of  the  means  of  abundant  consumption  to 
him  who  controls  either  land  or  capital. 

The  struggle  of  those  who  are  not  endowed  with  property  or  in  the 
possession  of  wealth  in  any  considerable  measure,  is  to  secure  an  abun¬ 
dant  supply  of  the  means  of  consumption  from  each  year’s  product. 

There  is  much  greater  equality  in  consumption  than  there  is  in 
possession. 

In  respect  to  food,  substantial  equality  of  consumption  as  to  quan¬ 
tity  must  be  attained  in  order  that  the  man  may  live  and  not  die.  A 
certain  definite  supply  of  the  so-called  “  nutrients,”  protein  or  nitro¬ 
genous  material,  starch  and  fat,  is  necessary  to  the  maintenance  of 
health  and  strength,  and  if  there  is  any  difference  in  the  quantity  of 
food  consumed,  the  working  classes,  using  that  term  in  the  narrow  sense 
in  which  working  people  apply  it  to  themselves  (which  is  the  meaning 
subsequently  given  to  the  term  throughout  this  essay),  consume  more 
food  by  weight  than  the  richer  classes,  because  the  kind  of  work  which 
they  do  enables  them  to  and  also  requires  them  to  digest  more. 

The  consumption  of  clothing  is  more  nearly  equal  than  the  provi¬ 
sion  for  housing  or  dwelling.  The  greatest  inequalities  are  to  be  found 
in  the  provision  for  shelter  or  the  dwelling-place  of  the  family.  The 

291 


2p2 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


necessity  for  a  certain  measure  of  subsistence  and  suitable  provision 
for  clothing  and  shelter  is  distinctly  admitted  by  the  establishment  of 
the  alms-house  or  the  poor-house,  where  those  who  are  incapable  of 
providing  for  themselves  are  provided  for  at  the  cost  of  society. 

It  was  a  matter  of  very  great  difficulty  to  the  writer  to  justify  the 
great  inequality  which  exists  in  the  distribution  of  products  and  in  the 
control  over  the  means  of  subsistence,  until  the  subject  was  taken  up 
on  what  may  be  called  its  metaphysical  side  ;  or,  in  other  words,  until 
an  approximate  estimate  had  been  made  by  himself  as  to  the  relative 
value  of  muscle  and  mind,  or  of  labor  and  capital,  in  the  work  of  pro¬ 
duction  and  distribution.  The  importance  of  the  mental  factor  in  the 
conduct  of  the  work  of  life,  in  which  it  is  the  prime  motive  power,  has 
been  treated  in  other  essays.  The  object  of  the  present  essay  is  to  try 
to  make  it  plain  that  there  are  only  three  methods  of  bringing  about 
greater  equality  in  the  conditions  of  men  or  in  their  control  over  the 
necessities  and  comforts  of  life.  ^ 

i st.  By  increasing  the  quantity  of  things  produced. 

2d.  By  devising  a  method  by  which  those  who  now  control  a  larger 
share  of  the  annual  product,  whatever  that  product  may  be,  than  they 
can  possibly  require  for  their  own  use  and  consumption,  may  part  with 
it  in  such  a  way  as  not  to  pauperize  any  one  in  the  process  of  converting 
it  to  the  general  welfare. 

3d.  By  helping  those  who  do  not  get  enough  to  enable  them  to  live 
in  comfort  and  welfare,  to  get  more,  without  being  subjected  to  the  in¬ 
dignity  of  having  it  given  to  them  either  directly  or  taken  from  others 
for  their  use,  by  any  process  of  law  which  shall  interfere  with  per¬ 
sonal  rights,  with  the  free  conduct  of  society,  or  with  free  contracts 
among  all  classes  of  people. 

As  society  is  now  organized,  the  distribution  of  products  is  and  can 
be  worked  only  by  one  of  four  methods  : 

1st.  By  barter  or  exchange  in  kind. 

'2d.  By  purchase  and  sale. 

3d.  By  taxation. 

4th.  By  theft,  either  within  or  without  the  forms  of  law. 

There  are  three  subjects  of  distribution  by  purchase  and  sale,  two 
of  which  differ  but  little  from  each  other,  the  third  differing  funda¬ 
mentally. 

1st.  That  part  of  the  product  of  previous  years  which,  under  the 
name  of  “  property,”  has  been  converted  into  more  or  less  durable 
forms,  known  as  capital,  tools,  machinery,  railways,  factories,  ware¬ 
houses,  and  the  like. 

2d.  That  form  of  property  which  is  commonly  called  “  quick  capi¬ 
tal,”  being  the  food,  fuel,  clothing,  and  other  goods  and  wares  which 
are  on  the  way  from  the  producer  to  the  consumer. 


Production ,  Distribution ,  Consumption.  293 

# 

The  third  kind  of  property  which  passes  by  title,  and  which  differs 
fundamentally  from  either  of  the  other  two,  is  land. 

It  is  held  by  many  that  land  should  not  be  made  a  subject  of  dis¬ 
tribution  by  purchase  and  sale,  but  should  be  held  as  the  common 
property  of  the  state,  subject  to  personal  possession  for  use  only  on 
the  payment  of  a  single  tax  upon  its  rental  value.  That  branch  of  the 
subject  has  been  treated  by  the  writer  in  another  essay,  under  the  title 
of  “The  Single  Tax  System.”  The  purpose  of  the  present  treatise  is 
to  consider  the  distribution  of  the  present  annual  product  under  exist¬ 
ing  methods  and  customs,  which  have  been  evolved  and  established 
consistently  with  the  present  order  of  society  and  present  laws. 

In  the  present  order  of  society  relatively  few  come  into  the  posses¬ 
sion  of  so  much  land  or  capital  as  to  be  classed  among  the  rich.  Very 
many  possess  small  parcels  of  land  and  small  amounts  of  capital  which 
entitles  them  to  be  considered  “  well-off.”  Aside  from  these  two  rela¬ 
tively  less  numerous  classes,  the  great  mass  of  the  people  of  necessity 
spend  nearly  the  whole  share  of  the  annual  product  which  falls  to 
them,  in  providing  themselves  and  their  families  with  shelter,  food,  and 
clothing,  saving  but  little  and  therefore  adding  but  little  to  the  capital 
of  the  country. 

In  other  treatises  the  writer  has  attempted  to  prove  that  in  any 
given  year  of  average  production  not  less  than  ninety  per  cent,  of  the 
entire  product  of  any  average  series  of  four  seasons  is  and  must  be 
consumed  in  a  corresponding  period  of  twelve  months  ;  that  measure 
of  consumption,  estimated  by  me  at  ninety  per  cent.,  or  whatever  it  may 
be,  is  the  cost  of  subsisting  the  whole  mass  of  the  people,  rich  and 
poor  alike,  in  that  specific  year. 

If  it  can  be  proved  that  ninety  per  cent,  is  the  cost  of  living,  it  fol¬ 
lows  that  not  over  ten  per  cent,  of  the  average  product  of  an  average 
year  is  or  can  be  consumed  in  such  a  way  as  to  be  added  to  the  capital 
of  the  country  by  either  rich  or  poor  or  both  combined,  so  that  it  shall 
form  a  part  of  the  permanent  investment  to  be  used  for  reproductive 
purposes.  Of  course  a  small  part  of  the  product  of  one  year  must  be 
carried  over  to  the  next,  to  start  the  work  of  that  year  upon,  and  the 
corresponding  part  of  the  product  of  that  year  is  carried  foward  to  the 
next. 

It  is  plain  that  in  this  country,  at  least,  an  abundant  production  of 
all  the  articles  which  are  necessary  for  subsistence,  for  comfort,  and 
even  for  a  large  measure  for  luxury,  is  now  assured.  The  only  ques¬ 
tion  requiring  a  better  solution  is  the  distribution  of  this  abundant 
product. 

According  to  my  estimate,  although  not  exceeding  ten  per  cent,  of 
the  average  product  of  this  country  is  or  can  be  added  to  its  capital,  it 
does  not  follow  that  not  exceeding  ten  per  cent,  falls  in  the  first  instance 


294  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 

under  the  control  of  those  who  may  be  called  the  “  richer  classes  ” 
under  the  name  of  income.  The  income  of  those  who  own  invested 
property,  either  in  capital  or  in  land, — which  income  falls  to  them  under 
the  title  of  rent,  interest,  profit,  or  by  way  of  large  salaries  for  what  are 
assumed  to  be  great  services, — is  doubtless  much  more  than  ten  per 
cent,  of  the  total  annual  product.  But  the  specific  class  of  persons,  the 
rich  and  the  well-off, — to  whom  this  income  falls  under  the  name  of 
rent,  interest,  profit,  or  salary,  do  not  consume  it  all  themselves.  Their 
consumption  of  food  is  not  and  cannot  be  greater  in  quantity,  however 

it  differs  in  quality,  from  that  of  any  other  given  number  of  persons, — 

. 

they  have  more  clothing  at  one  time,  but  they  do  not  wear  out  more 
clothing  than  the  working  people, — they  are  much  better  sheltered,  and 
in  that  matter  is  to  be  found  the  greatest  inequality  ;  but  when  they 
have  consumed  all  that  they  care  to  consume,  either  for  necessary  or  for 
luxurious  or  wasteful  purposes, — still  the  greater  part  of  their  incomes 
is  again  distributed  by  them  among  those  who  work  for  wages  or  for 
small  compensation,  and  it  is  by  way  of  comp  nsation  received  for  the 
service  rendered  to  what  may  be  called  the  “  richer  classes,”  which 
service  or  work  is  not  in  itself  productive  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  that 
a  large  number  of  those  who  are  included  under  the  title  of  “  working 
classes  ”  get  their  own  living. 

Existing  modes  of  distribution  may  be  good  or  bad,  equitable  or 
otherwise  ;  there  may  be  room  for  many  reforms  now  known  to  be 
necessary  ;  but  yet  there  can  be  no  great  and  revolutionary  change  in 
the  present  methods  of  distribution  by  taking  from  the  richer  classes  a 
large  share  of  the  income  which  they  now  derive  from  rent,  interest,  or 
profit,  and  converting  it  over  to  the  control  and  use  of  those  who  do 
the  actual  work  of  production,  without,  for  the  time  being,  at  least, 
depriving  another  large  number  of  working  people  of  their  present 
mode  of  gaining  their  living. 

If  those  who  now  expend  their  rents,  interest,  or  profit  in  building 
the  better  class  of  houses,  in  the  purchase  of  musical  instruments,  in 
silverware,  in  the  purchase  of  the  more  expensive  kinds  of  furniture, 
in  cultivating  gardens,  in  buying  and  using  carriages,  and  in  many 
other  ways  which  constitute  either  the  comforts  or  the  luxuries  of  those 
who  are  well  off,  were  deprived  of  a  large  part  of  their  income,  then 
all  who  now  supply  these  comforts  or  luxuries  would  be  without  work 
until  a  new  demand  had  been  created  for  similar  services  among  the 
working  classes  engaged  in  the  actual  work  of  producing  the  necessa¬ 
ries  of  life  ;  but  the  mere  privation  of  the  rich  would  not  endow  the 
workman  with  the  means  of  payment  for  such  services. 

It  is  very  important  to  keep  the  fact  clearly  in  mind  that  the  abso¬ 
lute  necessaries  of  life  now  require  but  a  moderate  portion  of  the  work 
of  society  to  be  applied  to  them, — such  has  been  the  gain  from  labor- 


Production ,  Distribution ,  Consumption.  295 

saving  inventions  ;  if  increasing  wants  were  not  developed  with  the 
increasing  means  of  enjoyment,  work  would  be  wanting  for  those 
who  now  provide  for  such  increasing  wants. 

In  order  to  make  this  plainer,  I  have  endeavored  to  put  these  facts 
into  a  graphical  form,  only  making  use  of  figures  or  estimates  in  money 
pro  forma.  On  the  diagram  herewith  will  be  found  a  series  of  oblong 
squares,  designated  respectively:  First,  Second,  Third,  Fourth,  and  Final 
Stage.  These  are  divided  into  sections  representing  the  conversion  or 
distribution  of  products.  For  the  purpose  of  this  essay  it  may  be  as¬ 
sumed  that  my  computation  of  the  gross  value  of  the  annual  product 
of  1880,  which  I  estimated  at  two  hundred  dollars  per  capita,  or  ten 
thousand  million  for  the  year  1880,  is  correct.  Let  it  then  be  assumed 
that  square  No.  1  headed  first  stage  is  typical  of  this  amount.  This 
gross  product  is  to  be  put  on  the  way  to  consumption.  It  is  to  be  dis¬ 
tributed  under  existing  methods  in  the  form — 

1st.  Of  consumption  without  purchase  or  sale,  as  on  farms. 

2d.  Consumption  by  way  of  taxation,  national,  State,  and  municipal. 

3d.  Consumption  by  way  of  wages,  small  salaries,  or  the  work  of 
small  farmers  who  gain  little  beyond  a  necessary  subsistence. 

4th.  Consumption  by  way  of  rent,  profit,  interest,  or  large  salaries. 

5th.  Consumption  by  way  of  conversion  into  new  capital. 

How  is  this  distribution  now  made  ? 

According  to  my  computation,  a  proportion  equal  to  ten  per  cent., 
designated  Section  No.  1.,  is  consumed  on  farms  or  elsewhere  without 
passing  into  the  commercial  product.  The  taxes  of  1880  came  to 
about  seven  hundred  million  dollars,  or  seven  per  cent,  of  the  com¬ 
puted  annual  product  designated  Section  No.  2.  Taxes  are  all  sub¬ 
stantially  applied  to  the  purchase  of  the  necessaries  of  life  for  imme¬ 
diate  consumption,  by  government  officers,  from  the  higher  officers 
of  the  national  government  to  the  workmen  upon  the  town  highways 
or  the  scavengers  who  sweep  the  streets.  A  certain  proportion,  com¬ 
puted  by  myself  as  being  by  far  the  larger  proportion  of  the  remainder, 
is  carried  forward  one  stage  in  the  form  of  wages,  small  salaries,  or 
small  farmers’  earnings  designated  Section  No.  3#,  to  be  consumed. 
The  lesser  portion  of  the  remainder  is  carried  forward  under  the  name 
of  “  rent,  profit,  interest,  and  large  salaries,”  Section  No.  4 b. 

In  the  Second  Stage,  Sections  1  and  2  of  the  previous  diagram  are 
left  blank,  so  much  of  the  product  having  been  exhausted  by  con¬ 
sumption.  The  greater  part  of  that  brought  forward,  designated  Sec¬ 
tion  No.  3,  is  spent  for  immediate  consumption  by  the  wage-earners 
and  small  farmers.  A  very  small  part,  represented  by  Section  No.  6hf 
is  saved  by  working  people,  and  is  carried  forward  to  be  consumed 
in  its  conversion  into  capital.  The  smaller  part  of  Section  No.  4 ay 
previously  assigned  to  rent,  interest,  profit,  and  large  salary,  designated 


296 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation, 


FIRST  STAGE. 


1.  Consumption  on  Farms. 

2.  Consumption  by  Taxation. 

3 a.  Carried  forward  as  Wages  or 
Earnings. 

4 b.  Carried  forward  as  Rent,  Inter¬ 
est,  and  Profit. 


SECOND  STAGE. 


3.  Consumed  by  Wage-earners. 

4 a.  Carried  forward  as  Wages  or 
Earnings. 

5.  Consumed  by  the  Capitalists. 

6b  and  6bb.  Carried  forward  for 
conversion  into  capital. 


THIRD  STAGE. 


,a 


4.  Consumed  by  Wage-earners. 

6c.  Carried  forward  for  conversion, 
into  capital. 


FOURTH  STAGE. 


/ 

6b  6bb  6c.  Consumed  by  Wage- 
earners  in  the  Process  of  Con¬ 
version  into  Capital. 


FINAL  STAGE. 


6 


6.  Proportion  of  all  products  con¬ 
verted  into  capital  as'measured 
in  the  preceding  sections. 


Production ,  Distribution ,  Consumption. 


297 


Section  No.  5,  is  consumed  by  the  richer  classes  who  receive  it  :  they 
are  relatively  few  in  number,  and  if  they  consume  or  waste  according 
to  their  own  pleasure,  as  much  as  five  hundred  million  dollars  a  year, 
or  five  per  cent,  of  the  total  computed  product,  yet  their  absolute  con¬ 
sumption  is  represented  by  the  small  section  numbered  5.  Another 
part  of  what  the  richer  classes  receive  is  carried  forward  for  consump¬ 
tion  by  conversion  into  capital,  Section  No.  6bb  ;  but  the  greater  part 
of  their  incomes,  designated  Section  4 a,  is  spent  on  what  might  be 
considered  a  reasonable  standard  of  living  : — in  the  construction  of  good 
houses,  for  the  higher  education  of  their  children,  in  provision  for  music 
and  art,  in  country-places  and  the  like  ;  a  class  of  expenditures  to 
which  no  exception  can  be  taken,  unless  it  could  be  proved  that  this 
specific  class  did  not  add  to  the  aggregate  product  of  the  whole  people , 
far  more  than  they  receive  i?i  the  form  of  income  or  spend  upon  the  luxuries 
or  upon  the  coin  forts  of  life. 

In  the  Third  Stage,  Section  No.  4,  that  part  of  the  income  of  the 
richer  classes,  spent  by  them  on  houses,  gardens,  musical  instruments, 
carriages,  etc.,  is  designated  ;  it  is  consumed  by  the  working  classes,  to 
whom  it  is  paid  out,  and  it  provides  them  with  the  means  of  living. 

In  the  Fourth  Stage,  that  part  of  the  annual  product  which  had  been 
previously  brought  forward  under  Section  No.  6b,  as  the  savings  of  the 
working  classes  engaged  in  direct  production,  Section  6 bb  that  part 
added  to  capital  by  the  richer  classes  and  Section  6c,  that  part  saved  by 
those  who  work  in  the  service  of  the  richer  classes,  is  represented  in 
the  process  of  consumption  by  the  working  people  who  construct  the 
railroads,  build  the  mills,  or  in  other  ways  convert  that  part  of  the  an¬ 
nual  product  which  can  be  added  to  the  capital  of  the  country  into  its 
durable  form. 

In  the  Final  Stage,  Section  6,  the  portion  designated  separately  in 
preceding  sections  computed  at  ten  per  cent,  is  pictured  as  being  con¬ 
sumed  by  conversion  into  capital  of  a  more  or  less  permanent  kind,, 
and  in  the  process  of  conversion  is  spent  among  working  people. 

Now  any  one  who  can  make  a  closer  estimate  of  the  value  of  the 
annual  product  itself  may  do  so  ;  or  any  one  who  can  make  a  closer 
but  different  estimate  of  the  way  in  which  the  product  is  divided,  may 
alter  the  size  or  the  proportion  of  the  several  sections  of  these  dia¬ 
grams  ;  but  in  so  doing  they  may  only  alter  the  actual  division  of  a 
certain  annual  product  without  altering  the  rule  under  which  it  is  now 
divided,  whatever  that  product  may  amount  to. 

The  working  people  who  do  the  actual  primary  work  of  producing 
the  necessaries,  comforts,  and  luxuries  of  life  designated  in  Sections 
3a  and  3,  whatever  proportion  of  the  product  they  control  or  consume, 
and  whatever  section  of  the  square  they  occupy,  either  in  appearance 
or  in  fact,  now  produce  more  than  food  enough, — more  than  fuel 


298 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


enough, — more  than  fibre  enough, — more  than  clothing  enough, — and 
more  than  timber  and  metal  enough, — to  feed,  clothe,  and  house  the 
whole  existing  population  in  greater  comfort  than  the  whole  population 
now  enjoys  on  the  average.  This  section  of  the  population,  whatever 
its  relative  number  or  proportion  may  be,  produces  even  such  an  excess 
of  the  necessaries  of  life ,  that  with  the  excess  we  buy  the  comforts  of 
life  from  other  nations  ;  such  as  tea,  coffee,  sugar,  and  spice,  more  than 
enough  for  abundant  consumption  by  the  whole  population.  Yet  want 
exists  in  the  midst  of  abundance.  A  few  obtain  control  of  more  than 
enough  and  waste  a  part  ;  a  greater  number  secure  a  competence  ;  but 
the  many  secure  less  than  enough  to  enable  them  to  enjoy  much 
leisure  ;  while  a  few  again  actually  suffer  from  want  or  are  upon  the 
edge  of  want  all  the  time. 

The  problem  of  society  is  to  change  these  conditions  by  evolution 
rather  than  by  revolution  ;  since  even  the  waste  of  the  few  or  of  the 
many  cannot  be  saved  or  spent  in  a  different  direction  without  bringing 
about  temporary  want  in  the  process.  For  instance,  there  is  scarcely 
a  doubt  that  the  small  aggregate  expenditure  of  the  rich  for  fine  wines 
and  fine  tobacco,  which  constitutes  but  a  small  part  of  the  aggregate 
expenditure  upon  this  class  of  luxuries,  coupled  with  the  very  great 
aggregate  expenditure  of  those  who  constitute  the  working  classes,  for 
beer,  whiskey,  and  tobacco,  amounts  to  about  one  thousand  million 
dollars  a  year  in  all  ;  that  is  to  say,  in  the  aggregate,  beer,  whiskey, 
wine,  and  tobacco  come  to  ten  per  cent,  of  the  entire  production  and 
of  the  consumption  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  ;  possibly  a  little 
less,  but  according  to  some  estimates  even  more. 

Let  it  be  supposed  or  admitted  that  the  world  would  be  better  off 
if  everybody  would  give  up  the  use  of  liquor  and  tobacco,  and  did  so. 
It  would  of  necessity  follow  that  about  ten  per  cent,  of  the  people  of 
the  United  States  would  be  deprived  of  their  present  mode  of  getting  a 
living,  and  that  number  would  be  more  than  six  million,  of  whom  two 
million  are  at  work.  This  but  indicates  the  stupendous  difficulty  of 
changing  the  present  methods  of  society  and  the  yet  greater  difficulty 
in  altering  them  by  legislation. 

After  all  that  may  be  said  and  done,  there  may,  however,  be  those 
who  will  question  the  right  of  persons  who  fall  within  the  category  of 
the  richer  classes  to  their  present  share  of  the  annual  product,  what¬ 
ever  it  may  be,  and  who  may  claim  that  this  share  would  fall,  under  a 
more  just  method  of  distribution,  in  a  great  measure  to  those  who  sort 
themselves  as  the  “  working  classes.” 

In  answer  to  this  claim,  while  admitting  that  there  is  room  for  many 
reforms, — admitting  also  that  there  are  many  defects  in  existing  laws 
affecting  distribution  which  should  be  amended, — yet  the  capitalist 
class  can  be  fully  justified  in  attaining  and  controlling  the  expenditure 


Production ,  Distribution ,  Consumption.  299 

of  its  share  of  the  annual  product,  whatever  it  may  be,  because  they 
add  much  more  tha?i  their  own  incomes  to  the  total  product . 

The  mind  of  man  is  the  prime  factor  in  all  material  production, — 
without  it  the  mere  labor  of  the  hand  would  be  incapable  of  providing 
for  an  increasing  population.  Setting  aside  all  distinction  of  classes 
and  reasoning  only  on  the  qualities  of  mind  which  are  necessary  to  the 
accumulation  of  capital,  it  becomes  apparent 

1st.  That  the  saving  of  capital  at  the  beginning,  however  little  it 
may  be,  is  due  to  prudence,  self-denial,  economy,  and  sagacity. 

2d.  The  productive  use  of  capital,  after  it  has  been  saved,  calls  for 
intelligence,  skill,  and  mental  capacity. 

3d.  The  larger  the  capital  the  greater  the  mental  capacity  required 
for  its  application  to  productive  purposes. 

4th.  Unless  capital  is  directed  to  productive  purposes,  whether  in¬ 
vested  in  land,  mills,  railroads,  or  works  of  any  kind,  it  yields  neither 
rent,  interest,  profit,  or  earnings.  When  productive  it  increases  pro¬ 
duction  more  than  it  secures  as  income. 

5th.  Unless  labor  did  in  fact  secure  a  better  subsistence  in  the 
service  of  capital,  the  workmen  would  refuse  to  work  for  the 
capitalists. 

It  follows  of  necessity  that  whatever  share  of  the  annual  product 
may  be  secured  by  the  capitalist  class  under  just  laws  which  create 
neither  privilege  nor  preference,  the  annual  product  itself  in  which  all 
share,  both  laborers  and  capitalists,  is  increased  in  vastly  greater 
measure  by  them  than  that  part  of  the  product  or  share  which  falls 
to  capital  comes  to. 

A  rule  has  been  propounded  on  this  matter  by  Henry  C.  Carey,  the 
advocate  of  the  highest  protection,  and  also  by  Frederic  Bastiat,  the 
most  radical  advocate  of  free  trade,  which  is  sustained  by  many  other 
writers,  and  which  is  also  fully  proved  by  the  observation  of  the  facts 
of  life,  to  wit :  “  in  proportion  to  the  increase  of  capital ,  the  absolute  share 
falling  to  the  capitalist  is  augmented  while  the  relative  share  is  diminished .” 
On  the  other  hand,  the  share  falling  to  labor  is  increased  both  absolutely 
and  relatively. 

There  is  one  method  of  analysis  which  may  perhaps  be  accepted  as 
conclusive,  upon  the  question  of  the  proportion  or  percentage  of  the 
annual  product  which  may  be  saved  and  added  to  the  capital  of  the 
country. 

The  population  of  the  United  States  in  1780  was  not  far  from  four 
million  ;  in  1880  it  was  substantially  fifty  million  ;  the  average  for  the 
century  was  therefore  twenty-six  million.  Now  twenty-six  million 
people  inhabiting  a  country  for  one  hundred  years  is  equivalent  to 
twenty-six  hundred  million  inhabiting  a  country  for  one  year.  If  we 
then  assume  that  twenty-six  hundred  million  people  had  lived  and 


300 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 

worked  one  year  under  the  same  average  conditions  as  the  twenty-six 
hundred  million  had  lived  and  worked  during  the  century,  and  that  in 
the  one  year  the  average  saving  or  addition  to  the  capital  of  the  country 
had  been  ten  dollars’  worth  each,  then  the  sum  of  the  capital  thus  saved 
would  come  to  twenty-six  thousand  million  dollars. 

While  it  may  be  true  that  not  much  dependence  can  be  placed  upon 
the  valuation  of  tKe  capital  of  the  country  as  given  in  the  Census  of 
1880,  yet  this  much  is  known  to  those  who,  like  the  writer,  took  part  in 
the  compilation  of  the  Census  of  1880,  that  the  capital  is  overestimated 
rather  than  underestimated  in  its  valuation. 

Now  deducting  the  valuation  of  land  and  of  public  buildings  from 
the  computation  made  by  the  Census  Department  on  the  basis  of  all 
the  returns,  and  that  part  of  the  property  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  which,  in  1880,  could  in  any  sense  have  been  called  private 
capital,  did  not  exceed  this  sum  of  twenty-six  hundred  million  dollars. 
Now  then,  ten  dollars  a  year  is  ten  per  cent,  of  one  hundred  dollars, 
and  if  ten  dollars’  worth  of  product  saved  had  been  added  to  capital, 
the  remainder  must  have  been  ninety  dollars’  worth  consumed  each 
year  per  capita.  Ninety  dollars’  worth  divided  by  three  hundred  and 
sixty-five  days  in  a  year  gives  a  little  less  than  twenty-five  cents’  worth 
a  day  of  products,  as  the  average  consumption  of  each  person,  man, 
woman,  or  child,  who  had  inhabited  the  United  States  during  the  cen¬ 
tury.  Could  the  population  of  the  century  have  subsisted  on  less  ? 

If  however  the  average  product  for  the  whole  period  has  been  worth 
more  than  one  hundred  dollars  per  capita,  then  all  the  capital  we  have 
now  to  show  for  our  savings  of  a  century  comes  to  less  than  ten  per 
cent,  of  the  total  product  of  the  century. 

Each -one  must  judge  for  himself  how  near  that  sum,  twenty-five 
cents,  is  to  what  must  have  been  the  measure  of  daily  consumption. 
If  the  consumption  was  greater  than  this,  then  the  proportion  saved 
and  added  to  capital  is  so  much  less.  If  the  people  had  been  sup¬ 
ported  during  the  century  at  less  than  twenty-five  cents’  worth,  includ¬ 
ing  rent  or  shelter,  food,  fuel,  clothing,  and  other  supplies,  then  the 
proportion  saved  may  have  been  greater.  On  the  whole,  ten  per  cent, 
would  appear  to  be  as  close  an  estimate  as  it  is  in  the  power  of  any 
statistician  who  is  capable  of  reasoning  upon  the  figures,  to  set  aside 
as  the  amount  saved  in  each  year. 

In  1880  the  whole  amount  of  property  which  was  assessed  for  local 
taxes  in  the  United  States  was  as  follows  : 


Real  Estate . .  $13,036,766,925 

Personal  Property .  3,866,226,618 


Total 


$16,902,993,543. 


Production ,  Distribution ,  Consumption .  301 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  assessors’  valuation  on  real  estate  in¬ 
cludes  all  buildings  and  improvements  upon  land  of  every  name  and 
nature.  So  far  as  there  is  any  information  to  serve  as  a  guide,  the 


assessment  may  be  about  evenly  divided. 

Assessment  on  land  one  half .  $6,518,383,462 

Assessment  on  buildings  or  other  improvements .  6,518,383,463 


Suppose  it  be  admitted  that  the  land  only  was  valued  at  seven  thou¬ 
sand  million  dollars,  for  the  assessment  of  taxes. 

The  sum  of  all  taxes  in  1880  was  over  seven  hundred  million  dob 
lars,  for  national,  State,  and  municipal  purposes. 

Mr.  Henry  George  and  his  coadjutors  propose  to  put  a  single 
tax  upon  land  in  order  to  meet  all  these  expenses. 

In  1880  the  rate  would  have  been  te?i  per  cent,  on  the  assessed  value. 
This  subject  is  only  referred  to  incidentally,  it  has  been  treated  else¬ 
where  by  the  writer. 

If  the  “  site  value ,”  so-called,  of  all  land  should  be  taxed  ten  per 
cent.,  the  question  may  well  be  asked  how  any  one  but  a  capitalist 
could  afford  to  build  upon  or  to  cultivate  it.  This  assessment,  was, 
however,  much  below  the  true  value. 

An  estimate  of  the  true  value  of  the  property  of  the  United  States 
was  made  by  Mr.  Henry  Gannett,  one  of  the  most  conscientious  and 
capable  of  the  experts,  who  was  employed  in  compiling  the  Census  of 


1880.  He  gives  the  following  data  : 

True  value  of  farms . $10,197,000,000 

Residence  and  business  real  estate,  including  water  power .  9,881,000,000 

Mines,  oil  wells,  and  quarries,  including  half  of  the  annual  product  of 

the  same  assumed  to  be  in  the  hands  of  the  producers .  781,000,000 

Railroads  and  equipments .  5,536,000,000 

Telegraphs,  shipping,  and  canals .  419,000,000 

Household  furniture,  books,  clothing,  jewelry,  and  supplies  of  food, 

fuel,  etc.,  in  the  hands  of  consumers .  5,000,000,000 

Hive  stock  on  or  off  farms,  farming  tools  and  machinery .  2,406,000,000 

Three  quarters  of  the  annual  product  of  agriculture  and  of  manufac¬ 
tures,  including  imported  goods .  6,160,000,000 

Miscellaneous,  including  mechanics’  tools .  650,000,000 

Specie .  612,000,000 

Churches,  schools,  asylums,  public  buildings,  and  other  real  estate 

exempt  from  taxes .  2,000,000,000 

T  otal . $43 , 642 , 000, 000 


When  we  come  to  analyze  these  figures  for  the  purpose  of  separat¬ 
ing  the  value  of  land  from  the  buildings  or  improvements  which  have 
been  put  or  made  upon  the  land  ;  and  also  for  the  purpose  of  separat¬ 
ing  that  part  of  the  wealth  of  the  country  which  had  become  common 
wealth,  in  order  to  ascertain  what  the  remainder  is, — such  remainder 
being  the  capital  which  has  been  saved  throughout  the  period  of  our 


302 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


existence  as  a  nation, — the  matter  is  subject  to  some  uncertainty  and 
we  must  reason  by  analogy  from  known  facts. 

In  the  city  of  Boston,  where  the  valuation  for  the  purpose  of 
assessing  taxes  is  very  high,  the  valuation  of  land  comes  to  three  fifths, 
and  of  the  improvements  of  buildings  constructed  upon  the  land,  to 
two  fifths  of  the  assessment  on  real  estate.  In  the  countrv  districts 

J 

these  proportions  are  apt  to  be  about  reversed. 

On  this  basis  from  Mr.  Gannett’s  estimates  we  may  set  aside  one 
half  the  valuation  of  farms,  one  half  the  valuation  of  the  residence  or 
business  real  estate  and  water  power,  and  two  thirds  of  the  value  of 
the  mines,  oil  wells,  and  quarries,  including  the  product  on  hand,  as 
being  so  much  capital  or  wealth  saved  from  previous  work, — this  leaves 
the  valuation  of  land  taken  by  itself  including  mines,  oil  wells,  and 
quarries,  at  ten  thousand  million  dollars.  We  may  then  readily  com¬ 
pute  the  capital. 


Valuation  of  the  capital  invested  upon  the  land . $10,869,000,000' 

Railroads  and  their  equipments .  5,536,000,000 

Telegraphs,  shipping,  and  canals .  419,000,000 

Live  stock,  farm  tools,  and  machinery .  2,406,000,000 

Three  quarters  of  the  annual  product  of  agriculture  and  manufactures 

(rather  a  large  estimate  in  the  judgment  of  the  writer) .  6,160,000,000 

Specie .  612,000,000 

Miscellaneous,  including  mechanics’  tools .  650,000,000 


$26,652,000,000 

We  then  have  what  may  be  called  the  true  capital  of  the  country, 
which  is  all  made  use  of,  with  the  exception  of  dwelling-houses,  for  re¬ 
productive  or  for  distributive  purposes.  The  remainder,  the  estimate 
of  property  consists  of  household  furniture,  books,  clothing,  and  sup¬ 
plies  of  food  which  are  in  the  way  of  immediate  consumption,  five 
thousand  million.  Even  if  we  add  this  item  to  the  capital  previously 
set  apart,  the  total  comes  to  only  thirty-one  thousand  six  hundred  and 
fifty-two  millions, — then  deduct  the  dwelling-houses  and  household 
furniture,  books  and  clothing,  and  the  actual  productive  or  reproduc¬ 
tive  capital  of  the  country  in  1880  exceeded  but  little  twenty-six  thou¬ 
sand  millions  ;  or  substantially  the  sum  of  ten  per  cent,  on  an  annual 
product  of  only  one  hundred  dollars’  worth  per  capita  for  a  century. 

Of  course  the  product  has  of  late  been  much  greater,  and  the 
addition  to  capital  at  ten  per  cent,  has  of  late  been  very  large, — much 
larger  in  the  aggregate  than  ever  before. 

If,  then,  we  put  the  minimum  sum  against  each  person  of  the  popu¬ 
lation  on  which  the  people  could  by  any  possibility  have  been  fed, 
clothed,  and  sheltered,  we  reach  figures  which,  by  comparison  with  the 
largest  estimates  of  the  taxable  property  of  the  country,  exclusive  of 


Production ,  Distribution ,  Consumption.  303 

land,  tend  to  prove  the  utter  impossibility  of  any  accumulation  of 
capital  having  been  made  in  excess  of  two  or  three  years’  product. 

For  instance,  at  my  own  estimate  of  two  hundred  dollars  per  capita, 
which,  in  my  own  judgment,  is  too  large  rather  than  too  small,  the 
amount  available  for  each  man,  woman,  and  child  of  the  population  in 
1880,  a  year  of  more  than  normal  prosperity,  did  not  exceed  what 
fifty-five  cents  a  day  would  buy  at  the  prices  at  which  goods  were  then 
sold  to  consumers  ;  therefore  this  sum  per  capita  must  have  covered 
the  consumption  of  the  farm,  taxation  and  the  compensation  for  all 
services  of  all  kinds,  whether  rendered  under  the  title  of  rent,  interest, 
profits,  earnings,  salaries,  or  wages. 

Now  it  is  very  plain  that  the  mass  of  commodities  of  necessary  use 
which  have  been  produced  has  been  greater  for  the  last  twenty-five 
years  than  at  any  previous  period.  The  figures  indicate  double  the 
quantity  as  compared  to  the  first  half  of  the  century  under  considera¬ 
tion.  The  prices  for  the  last  five  or  six  years  of  the  necessaries  of  life 
have  been  substantially  what  they  were  in  1850,  before  the  effect  of  the 
gold  discoveries  in  California  had  begun.  Ten  per  cent,  of  this  in¬ 
creased  product  makes  a  very  great  and  rapid  addition  to  capital. 

If  the  whole  production  of  the  population  which  has  dwelt  in  the 
United  States  from  1780  to  1880  has  been  only  one  hundred  dollars’ 
worth  per  capita  in  all,  as  estimated  in  the  previous  computation,  then 
the  amount  of  product  available  to  each  person  during  that  whole 
period  must  have  been  less  than  what  twenty-seven  cents  a  day  would 
buy.  If  the  product  has  been  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars’  worth 
per  capita  each  year,  consumption  has  been  what  forty-one  cents  a  day 
would  buy. 

According  to  my  computation  for  1880  the  total  product  was  what 
fifty-five  cents  a  day  would  buy,  and  in  view  of  the  continued  increase 
of  product  since  1880  and  the  lessening  cost  of  distribution,  it  may  to¬ 
day  be  about  what  sixty  cents  a  day  would  buy. 

Since  1880  the  taxes  have  probably  diminished  in  ratio  to  product 
from  seven  per  cent,  to  six  per  cent.  Interest,  rents,  and  profits 
have  also  steadily  diminished  in  ratio  to  products  until  capital  can 
secure  for  its  services,  when  lent  for  industrial  purposes,  less  even 
than  in  Great  Britain  ;  although  the  current  rates  for  call  money  in 
London, — the  banking  centre  of  the  world, — may  be  a  little  less  than 
in  New  York. 

Again,  any  one  who  is  at  all  conversant  with  the  conduct  of  busi¬ 
ness  may  readily  bear  testimony  to  the  fact,  as  soon  as  his  attention  is 
called  to  it,  that  there  is  probably  seldom  or  never  one  year’s  stock  of 
food  held  in  advance  of  consumption,  even  in  this  country.  There  is 
never  one  year’s  stock  of  materials  for  clothing  on  hand,  seldom  a  stock 
more  than  enough  for  the  ensuing  season,  held  in  advance  of  consump- 


304  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 

tion.  The  amount  of  capital,  great  as  it  must  be,  which  can  be  applied 
to  housing  the  increase  of  population,  barely  suffices  to  keep  them 
under  cover.  Even  houses  wear  out  about  as  fast  as  they  are  built. 
The  warehouse,  the  machine  shop,  and  the  factory  are  a  little  more 
durable,  but  the  life  of  the  best  machinery  is  very  short  ;  it  is  used  up 
or  displaced  by  new  inventions  in  from  ten  to  twenty  years.  If  a  rail¬ 
road  were  neglected  for  a  single  year  there  would  be  little  left  but  the 
road-bed  ;  and  that  would  be  gullied  in  the  course  of  every  stream. 
There  is  therefore  nothing  useful  that  is  very  old.  “  Want  treads  on 
the  heels  of  plenty,”  with  only  one,  two,  or  three  years  to  spare  in  the 
work  of  converting  the  forces  of  nature  to  the  subsistence  of  man. 

With  respect  to  land,  which  is  said  to  be  limited  and  which  differs 
in  some  respects  from  capital  in  that  whatever  the  quantity  may  be  it 
cannot  be  increased  in  area  ;  it  may  be  admitted  that  the  area  cannot 
be  increased  but  the  product  of  land  can  be  increased  almost  indefi¬ 
nitely  when  the  mental  factor,  which  is  the  prime  factor  in  production, 
is  applied  to  its  use.  No  one  yet  knows  or  can  measure  the  productive 
capacity  of  a  single  acre  of  land  anywhere. 

The  possession  of  land  under  existing  laws  by  individuals  is  more 
free  to-day  from  restriction,  and  it  is  more  easy  for  any  man  who  desires 
land  to  possess  it  than  it  was  when  the  pilgrims  landed  on  Plymouth 
Rock,  or  when  the  first  settlers  in  Florida  occupied  the  country,  before 
a  single  private  title  had  been  obtained  from  the  aborigines  either  by 
conveyance  or  by  conquest. 

The  same  amount  and  quality  of  work  which  was  then  required  to 
reach,  open,  clear,  and  put  land  under  cultivation,  such  land  being  free 
from  any  private  title  and  open  to  settlement  without  money  charge,  if 
now  directed  to  earning  wages  in  any  art  which  develops  the  intelli¬ 
gence  and  capacity  of  the  man  who  does  the  work,  will  enable  him  to 
save  enough  for  the  purchase  of  land  at  present  prices,  outside  a  few 
central  and  thickly  inhabited  points,  in  greater  quantity  and  under  bet¬ 
ter  conditions  for  use,  than  the  entire  work  of  the  man  for  a  lifetime 
would  have  sufficed  to  give  him  without  regard  to  his  subsistence  fifty 
years  since,  or  than  he  could  have  gained  from  the  virgin  forest  at  any 
time  during  the  past  century. 

In  fact,  good  land  under  good  cultivation,  with  good  improvements 
upon  it,  capable  of  such  use  that  it  has  sufficed  for  the  subsistence  of 
the  best  and  most  competent  part  of  the  population  during  the  past  cen¬ 
tury,  may  now  be  purchased  for  a  sum  of  money  representing  far  less 
than  the  money  value  which  has  been  expended  in  clearing  it  and  in 
building  fences  and  walls. 

In  1880,  all  the  crops  of  the  country  which  required  cultivation  were 
made  on  less  than  three  hundred  thousand  square  miles  out  of  three 
million  square  miles  constituting  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  and 


Production ,  Distribution ,  Consumption. 


305 


that  part  under  cultivation  did  not  produce  on  the  average  more  than 
half  a  fair  crop,  owing  to  the  negligent  and  wasteful  methods  of  culti¬ 
vation  due  to  want  of  intelligence  in  the  cultivator,  or  want  of  sufficient 
labor  in  the  process. 

Since  1865  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  miles  of  new  railway 
have  been  furnished  by  capital,  by  means  of  which  each  acre  of  one 
million  square  miles  of  territory  has  "been  brought  within  five  miles  or 
less  of  a  railway,  and  thereby  brought  within  the  reach  of  him  who 
desires  to  occupy  it  at  the  cost  of  a  few  days  spent  on  the  way,  as  com¬ 
pared  to  months  under  previous  conditions  ;  and  when  he  reaches  the 
land  which  he  has  selected,  the  price  at  which  he  can  purchase  it  is 
the  measure  of  less  labor  than  has  ever  before  been  required  to  secure 
such  possession.  Under  these  conditions,  are  not  the  propositions 
which  have  been  submitted  in  other  essays  fully  proved  ? 

1st.  To  wit,  that  under  existing  institutions  and  existing  laws  the 
working  classes,  in  the  sense  in  which  they  use  that  word,  have  been 
securing  to  their  own  use  and  enjoyment  an  increasing  share  of  an 
increasing  product. 

2d.  The  richer  classes  controlling  and  using  capital  are  securing  to 
their  use,  control,  and  enjoyment  a  diminishing  share  of  the  same 
increasing  product. 

3d.  The  share  which  each  person  may  secure  to  his  own  use  and 
enjoyment  of  this  increasing  product,  depends  upon  the  development 
of  his  individual  character  and  capacity. 

4th.  All  laws  restricting  the  free  use  of  time  and  opportunity,  and 
all  by-laws  limiting  the  use  of  time  and  talent  or  skill,  are  inconsis¬ 
tent  with  the  progress  of  society  and  with  the  progress  of  the  individual 
as  well. 

5th.  Liberty  sustained  under  just  laws,  is  the  condition  under 
which  the  greatest  welfare  can  be  attained  by  him  who  possesses  the 
capacity  to  grasp  the  opportunity  now  offered  him. 


20 


1 


4 


1 


SLOW-BURNING  CONSTRUCTION 


SLOW-BURNING  CONSTRUCTION.1 


THE  fearful  losses  of  life  and  property  by  fire  in  the  United 
States  have  lately  attracted  the  attention  which  is  due  to 
the  causes  of  such  loss  and  to  the  means  for  preventing  them. 
Coincident  with  these  investigations  a  very  profound  change  in  the 
conduct  of  the  business  of  fire  insurance  companies  is  in  progress. 
Until  within  a  very  recent  period  the  management  of  an  insurance 
company  issuing  policies  of  indemnity  against  loss  by  fire  has  consisted 
in  taking  risks  as  they  might  happen  to  be,  a  more  or  less  careful  in¬ 
spection  having  been  made  into  the  condition  of  the  property  before 
issuing  a  policy,  for  the  purpose  of  estimating  the  rate  of  premium 
to  be  charged  rather  than  with  a  view  to  improving  such  conditions. 

The  notice  of  the  owners  or  occupants  has  sometimes  been  called 
to  glaring  defects,  and  a  somewhat  desultory  inspection  has  been  main¬ 
tained  ;  not  so  much  with  the  intention  of  informing  the  owner  or 
occupant  how  to  protect  the  property  against  fire,  so  as  to  reduce  the 
loss  to  the  lowest  terms,  as  for  the  purpose  of  informing  the  under¬ 
writers,  so  that  they  may  not  take  or  maintain  too  low  a  rate  of 
premium.  In  fact,  there  has  been  until  recently  a  passive  indifference 
and  sometimes  a  frankly  acknowledged  objection  on  the  part  of  promi¬ 
nent  underwriters  to  the  introduction  of  the  most  effective  safeguards, 
lest  the  reduction  of  premiums  that  might  be  demanded  should  dimin¬ 
ish  the  profits  of  the  insurance  companies. 

It  may  be  admitted  that  under  this  system  many  fire  insurance 
companies  have  been  established  and  conducted  by  men  of  conspicuous 
ability,  with  great  profit  to  the  stockholders  and  indirectly  with  great 
benefit  to  the  assured.  These  companies  have  done  a  world-wide 
business,  scattering  their  risks,  and  by  the  very  breadth  of  their  opera¬ 
tions  and  income,  they  have  been  enabled  to  reduce  their  premiums  to 
the  very  lowest  terms  that  the  system  itself  would  permit,  subject  as  it 
has  been  to  an  excessive  expense  ;  but  as  the  amount  of  property  at 
risk  has  increased  in  recent  years  with  very  great  rapidity,  the  com¬ 
panies  of  a  safe  kind  have  been  unable  to  carry  the  full  lines  required 
in  the  concentrated  hazards  of  our  great  cities.  Owners  have  therefore 

1  Reprinted  from  The  Century  Magazine  for  February,  1889. 

309 


3io 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


been  obliged  to  seek  insurance  wherever  they  could  get  it,  sometimes 
exhausting  all  the  fire  insurance  companies  of  the  world.  At  the  same 
time  an  unwholesome  competition  has  grown  up  among  the  under¬ 
writers  themselves  by  which  their  previously  heavy  expenses  in  the 
conduct  of  their  business  have  been  increased,  while  badly  managed  or 
small  companies  have  been  led  to  take  risks  at  less  than  cost, — a 
method  ^ending  inevitably  in  bankruptcy  or  in  withdrawal  from 
business. 

In  the  opinion  of  competent  experts  from  eighty  to  ninety  per  cent, 
of  all  the  stock  fire  insurance  companies  organized  to  transact  business 
within  the  limits  of  the  United  States,  or  empowered  thereto,  have 
agencies  in  the  State  of  New  York,  which  renders  it  incumbent  on 
them  to  make  returns  to  the  Commissioner  of  Insurance  of  that  State 
giving  a  statement  of  all  their  transactions  in  the  United  States.  There 
could  be  no  better  indication  of  the  rapid  growth  of  wealth  in  this 
country  during  the  last  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  than  a  comparison  of 
the  sum  of  the  insurance  written  by  these  companies.  In  1859,  before 
the  civil  war,  the  sum  of  the  risks  taken  by  companies  making  these 
returns  was  a  fraction  under  $1,500,000,000.  In  the  year  1887  the 
amount  in  round  numbers  was  $12,250,000,000. 

The  proportion  of  loss  to  the  value  of  the  property  insured  has 
slowly  diminished  :  there  has  been  a  little  improvement  in  the  con¬ 
struction  of  buildings  in  some  of  our  great  cities,  though  not  much 
elsewhere,  so  that  the  loss  by  fire  now  ranges  from  $100,000,000  to 
$130,000,000  a  year.  The  cost  of  sustaining  fire  insurance  companies 
whose  function  is  simply  to  distribute  this  loss  over  a  wider  field  is 
about  $65,000,000  a  year  ;  to  this  must  be  added  the  cost  of  sustaining 
expensive  fire  departments,  which  may  be  computed  at  a  minimum  at  not 
less  than  $25,000,000  a  year,  and  it  is  probably  more,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  additional  cost  of  water  supply  for  fire  purposes.  The  fire  tax  of 
the  United  States  may  therefore  be  estimated  at  a  minimum  of  $180,- 
000,000,  or  at  a  maximum  of  over  $200,000,000,  in  a  normal  year  in 
which  no  great  conflagration  occurs. 

Within  the  last  five  years  a  great  change  has  taken  place  in  the 
views  of  the  leading  men  who  conduct  the  business  of  the  fire  insur¬ 
ance  companies,  and  a  system  is  rapidly  coming  into  vogue  for  the 
frequent  inspection  of  buildings  with  a  view  to  the  prevention  of  loss 
by  protecting  them,  so  far  as  their  generally  bad  construction  will  per¬ 
mit,  from  the  dangers  which  must  occur  from  fires  that  are  unavoid¬ 
able,  by  installing  apparatus  to  check  the  rapid  spread  of  fires  when 
they  do  occur.  Doubtless  a  very  considerable  part  of  the  present 
losses  may  be  saved  in  this  way,  but  the  relief  is  only  a  palliation  ;  the 
true  remedy  will  come  only  when  the  owner  of  the  insured  building 
realizes  the  simple  fact  that  he  himself  is  chiefly  responsible  for  all  the 


Slow- Burning  Construction .  3 1 1 

losses  that  happen.  It  must  be  brought  home  to  him  that  the  true 
function  of  an  insurance  company  is  to  distribute  a  loss  when  it  occurs. 
True,  it  may  be  a  part  of  the  function  of  the  officers  of  an  insurance 
company  to  instruct  an  owner  how  to  build  his  building  and  how  to 
guard  it  after  it  is  built ;  but  the  owner  himself,  by  his  own  control 
over  the  construction  and  the  occupation  of  his  building,  is  the  only 
person  who  can  remove  the  causes  of  loss  by  fire.  It  must  be  made 
apparent  to  the  owner  of  property  that  if  he  pays  a  high  rate  of  pre¬ 
mium  for  a  policy  of  insurance  it  is  his  own  fault ;  he  makes  the  rate 
high  by  neglecting  his  own  duty,  and  when  he  may  afterward  under¬ 
take  to  procure  a  contract  of  indemnity  or  policy  of  insurance  at  less 
than  cost,  he  is  an  illustration  of  the  old  adage,  “  A  fool  and  his  money 
are  soon  parted.”  A  contract  made  under  such  conditions  is  not  worth 
the  money  paid  for  it. 

The  cause  of  this  enormous  fire  tax  may  be  attributed  mainly  to  the 
common  practice  of  what  has  been  perhaps  well  named  “  the  art  of 
combustible  architecture.” 

How  can  this  waste  be  avoided  ?  It  is  useless  to  suggest  the  con¬ 
struction  of  buildings  modelled  on  those  of  Europe,  especially  of  those 
upon  the  Continent  ;  we  have  not  a  general  supply  of  the  soft  and 
easily  worked  stone  of  which  most  of  the  buildings  in  Paris  and  in 
many  other  of  the  foreign  cities  are  constructed— a  stone  which  cuts 
like  cheese  and  which  hardens  like  iron  upon  exposure  to  the  weather. 
In  some  of  the  States  west  of  the  Alleghanies  there  are  considerable 
deposits  of  easily  worked  stone  which  hardens  on  exposure,  but  in  the 
Eastern  and  the  Middle  States  no  such  building-stone  is  found.  Neither 
have  we  that  abundance  of  low-priced  manual  labor  which  will  enable 
us  to  construct  buildings  exclusively  of  brick  and  iron,  without  exceed¬ 
ing  in  cost  the  capital  which  can  be  applied  to  buildings  required  for 
ordinary  purposes.  Many  labor-saving  devices  have  indeed  been 
adopted  in  the  building  trades,  but  on  the  whole  a  building  of  any 
kind  is  to  a  large  extent  the  product  of  the  hand  rather  than  of  the 
machine  ;  the  stone  must  be  cut,  the  mortar  must  be  prepared,  the 
brick  must  be  laid,  the  timbers  must  be  adjusted  by  hand-work,  and 
all  the  costly  finish  must  be  put  on  by  hand.  Hence,  although  it  is  a 
rule  that  in  all  the  arts  to  which  modern  machinery  can  be  applied  a 
low  cost  of  production  is  consistent  with  or  is  the  correlative  of  high 
wages  or  earnings,  yet  in  arts  which  remain  mainly  handicrafts  the  rate 
of  wages  becomes  one  of  the  elements  of  a  high  cost  of  production  or 
construction  ;  therefore  the  higher  cost  of  building  in  this  country  as 
compared  with  the  cost  in  Europe  is  in  itself  a  proof  of  the  greater 
relative  prosperity  of  the  members  of  the  building  trades,  even  though 
it  results  in  higher  rents  to  all  others.  Moreover,  many  of  the  articles 
which  enter  into  the  construction — especially  of  city  warehouses,  in 


312 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


which  the  greatest  losses  by  fire  occur — are  heavily  increased  in  their 
cost  by  the  present  system  of  duties  on  foreign  imports  ;  for  instance, 
structural  iron  and  steel,  window  glass  of  the  better  quality  (especially 
plate  glass),  cement,  and  many  building  stones,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
tax  imposed  upon  Canadian  lumber.  We  have,  however,  a  greater 
relative  abundance  of  timber  than  of  other  suitable  building  materials, 
and  it  follows  that  wood  rightly  enters  into  the  construction  of  our 
buildings  more  than  it  does  in  most  European  countries,  even  in  our 
factories,  city  warehouses,  churches,  and  the  like.  Again,  in  the  north¬ 
ern  parts  of  the  United  States  wood,  properly  cut  and  disposed  in  the 
building  in  a  suitable  manner,  is  almost  a  necessary  part  of  the  con¬ 
struction  because  of  the  climatic  conditions  ;  stone  and  brick,  when 
exposed  to  the  extreme  cold  of  the  outer  air  of  winter,  draw  moisture 
from  within  the  building,  which  condenses  on  the  inside  of  the  walls 
and  is  apt  to  make  the  buildings  very  damp  :  especially  churches, 
wherein  the  furnace  may  be  lighted  and  the  building  kept  warm  for 
only  a  part  of  the  week. 

The  question  therefore  arises,  Can  buildings  be  constructed  either 
wholly  of  timber,  or  of  brick,  stone,  or  iron  for  the  outer  walls,  com¬ 
bined  with  wood  for  the  inside  construction,  in  such  a  way  as  to  elim¬ 
inate  the  greater  part  of  the  causes  of  the  fearful  fire  tax  which  now 
constitutes  a  waste  equal  to  an  average  of  at  least  fifteen  per  cent,  on 
the  net  savings  or  possible  additions  to  the  capital  of  the  country  in  a 
fairly  prosperous  year  ? 

To  this  question  an  affirmative  reply  may  be  given.  It  is  based  on 
many  years’  experience  in  the  construction  of  textile  factories  under 
the  supervision  and  guidance  of  the  mutual  underwriters  by  whom  these 
factories  have  been  insured  on  an  absolutely  mutual  principle  for  a  period 
ranging  from  thirty  to  fifty  years  in  respect  to  the  principal  companies. 

Witness  the  necessity  for  the  solution  of  this  problem.  There  are 
even  now  more  cities  than  one  in  which  a  great  conflagration  exceed¬ 
ing  that  of  either  Boston  or  Chicago  awaits  but  the  accident  of  a  spark 
and  a  favorable  wind.  It  is  therefore  to  be  hoped  that  the  time  may 
not  be  far  off  when,  by  the  bankruptcy  or  the  withdrawal  of  only  a 
moderate  number  of  the  existing  insurance  companies  whose  losses 
and  expenses  now  exceed  their  income,  a  few  great  and  powerful  fire 
insurance  companies  may  be  enabled  to  impose  conditions  upon  those 
who  apply  to  them  for  insurance,  under  which  conditions  a  remedy  may 
be  found  for  the  existing  faults,  even  if  that  remedy  be  not  found 
•  sooner  under  the  system  of  inspection  and  prevention  now  beginning, 
by  which  the  danger  of  such  a  great  conflagration  may  be  almost  if  not 
wholly  removed. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  claim  that  if  a  sum  of  money  equal  to  that 
which  is  annually  paid  in  premiums  for  policies  of  insurance  on  prop- 


Slow- Burn  ing  Constru  ctio  n . 


313 

erty  situated  within  the  so-called  “  dry-goods  district  ”  of  New  York 
and  its  immediate  vicinity,  covering  about  one  hundred  acres,  were  put 
at  the  disposal  of  the  officers,  engineers,  and  architects  who  are  em¬ 
ployed  by  the  factory  mutual  insurance  companies  of  New  England,  to 
be  by  them  applied  to  suitable  appliances  and  safeguards  for  the  pro¬ 
tection  of  that  district,  the  danger  of  a  great  conflagration  would  be 
wholly  removed  and  the  destruction  of  even  a  single  warehouse  and  its 
contents  would  be  of  the  rarest  occurrence. 

Strange  to  say,  some  of  the  worst  examples  of  combustible  archi¬ 
tecture  are  to  be  found  among  our  prisons,  hospitals,  asylums,  and 
alms-houses ;  next,  among  college  buildings,  libraries,  and  school- 
houses  ;  to  these  may  be  added  churches,  hotels,  and  theatres.  In  the 
year  1887,  according  to  the  tables  compiled  by  the  Chronicle  of  New 
York,  there  were  burned  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States  : 

45  hospitals,  asylums,  almshouses,  or  jails,  being  nearly  four  per  month,  in  many 
cases  accompanied  by  the  loss  of  a  large  number  of  lives. 

126  college  buildings  and  libraries,  being  ten  and  a  half  per  month. 

146  churches,  being  two  and  eight-tenths  per  week. 

52  theatres  and  opera  houses,  being  one  per  week. 

515  hotels,  being  one  and  four-tenths  per  day. 

The  bad  construction  of  these  buildings  is  due  mainly  to  habit,  to 
fear  of  innovation,  and  to  distrust  of  theory.  These  inherited  faults  in 
construction  may  be  readily  traced  to  their  origin.  In  order  to  make 
this  matter  plain,  the  evolution  of  the  modern  factory  will  be  fully  de¬ 
scribed  in  this  article,  illustrated  by  examples  of  the  several  types  of 
building  which  haVe  been  from  time  to  time  constructed.  When  the 
textile  factory  system  was  first  established,  water  power  only  was  ap¬ 
plied  to  the  movement  of  machinery.  The  larger  factories  were  thus 
customarily  placed  in  narrow  valleys  or  upon  very  limited  areas  of 
land,  below  the  falls  of  rivers  and  alongside  the  streams  ;  it  therefore 
became  necessary  to  economize  the  area  of  ground  covered  by  the  fac¬ 
tories  and  to  build  them  many  stories  in  height.  When  other  arts  be¬ 
gan  to  be  conducted  upon  the  factory  system,  the  buildings  were  apt  to 
be  in  cities  or  towns  where  the  price  of  land  forbade  large  areas  being 
devoted  to  the  purpose,  and,  again,  buildings  of  many  stories  in  height 
were  constructed.  As  time  went  on,  however,  steam  took  the  place  of 
water  power,  while  cheap  railway  service  or  rapid  transit  made  it  pos¬ 
sible  to  scatter  the  factories  over  a  wider  area.  Factory  buildings  then 
began  to  be  constructed  in  the  open  country,  but  apparently  it  did  not 
occur  either  to  the  owner,  the  managers,  the  architects,  or  the  builders 
that  the  reasons  for  constructing  a  building  many  stories  in  height  did 
not  apply  to  places  where  land  could  be  had  at  a  very  low  price  ;  there¬ 
fore  the  customary  bad  and  unsuitable  form  of  construction  was 


314  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 

1 

adopted  and  is  still  practised  where  it  is  not  only  useless  and  unsate 
but  less  adapted  to  the  purpose  to  which  the  building  is  to  be  put  than 
a  one-story  or  a  two-story  building  would  be.  Moreover,  the  whole 
method  of  cutting  timber  having  been  developed  with  a  view  to  the 
supply  of  material  required  in  the  ordinary  unsafe  and  unsuitable 
method  of  construction,  it  was  for  many  years  difficult  to  obtain 
material  cut  in  a  proper  way  for  what  has  been  called  the  slow-burning 
use  of  timber.  Hence  it  follows  that  the  art  of  slow-burning  construc¬ 
tion  is  little  known  outside  the  limits  of  New  England,  and  until  very 
lately  it  was  little  known  even  there  except  to  those  who  had  become 
accustomed  to  the  construction  of  textile  factories,  paper-mills,  and 
other  works  which  are  customarily  insured  by  the  factory  mutual  insur¬ 
ance  companies.  It  is  only  within  a  very  short  time  that  the  methods 
which  have  been  practised  for  many  years  in  the  construction  of  textile 
factories — which  are  only  the  old  methods  of  almost  prehistoric  time, 
when  timbers  were  shaped  by  the  axe  or  by  hand,  before  the  modern 
saw-mill  had  rendered  the  construction  of  a  sham  building  possible — 
have  been  taken  up  by  a  few  architects  of  capacity  and  responsibility 
to  be  applied  to  warehouses,  churches,  college  buildings,  and  occa¬ 
sionally  to  dwelling-houses. 

A  most  conspicuous  example  of  the  right  method  of  dealing  with 
timber  and  plank  in  a  commercial  warehouse  may  be  found  in  the 
inside  work  of  the  huge  building  lately  furnished  and  occupied  by  Mr. 
Marshall  Field  of  Chicago,  on  plans  made  by  the  late  Mr.  H.  H.  Rich¬ 
ardson  and  carried  out  by  his  successors,  the  motive  of  the  plan  hav¬ 
ing  been  derived  from  the  customary  method  of  constructing  a  textile 
factory. 

In  what  does  slow-burning  construction  consist  ?  It  may  be  con¬ 
sidered  somewhat  amazing  that  so  simple  an  art  should  not  have  been 
common  for  generations.  We  will  begin  at  the  weakest  point  in  the 
common  art  of  combustible  architecture,  to  wit,  with  the  roof,  and  de¬ 
scribe  its  evolution.  It  may  be  admitted  that  the  modern  factory  roof 
waited  for  its  possibility  until  right  methods  of  .covering  a  flat  roof  had 
been  invented  ;  but  even  with  respect  to  the  roofs  that  are  not  flat, 
about  ninety-five  out  of  every  hundred  of  those  which  are  now  build¬ 
ing  are  models  of  every  thing  that  is  bad.  They  convert  the  attic  stories 
into  ovens  in  summer,  refrigerators  in  winter,  and  fire-traps  all  the 
time.  It  seems  as  if  hardly  any  one,  owner,  architect,  or  builder,  had 
ever  put  to  himself  the  simple  question,  “  What  is  the  purpose  of  a 
roof?”  The  plain  answer  obviously  is,  “To  keep  out  the  rain.” 
Many  of  these  “  crazy  roofs  ”  of  irregular  form  and  full  of  leaky  valleys 
fail  even  in  that  essential  point.  May  it  not  be  added  to  this  main 
object  of  keeping  out  the  rain  that  the  subsidiary  purpose  of  a  roof  is 
also  to  keep  out  the  heat  of  the  summer  sun  and  to  keep  in  the  warmth 


315 


BY  HIS  SUCCESSORS  SHEPLEY,  RUTTAN,  &  COOLIDGE.) 


3 1 6  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 

of  the  winter  fuel  ?  May  it  not  even  be  added  that  a  roof  may  furnish 
a  comfortable  and  convenient  place  to  get  a  little  fresh  air  by  those 
who  dwell  in  crowded  cities  ;  or  at  least  may  not  a  good  roof  add  one 
floor  to  a  building  where  work  which  requires  the  outer  air  may  be 
done  comfortably  and  conveniently  ?  Are  not  the  roofs  of  buildings 
in  nearly  all  hot  countries  made  great  use  of  by  the  inhabitants  ?  Are 
they  not  invariably  of  thick,  solid  construction,  flat  enough  to  be  occu¬ 
pied  in  hot  summer  nights  ?  In  what  country  is  there  greater  need 
for  such  a  place  of  comfort  and  fresh  air  than  in  our  Northern  cities 
during  the  extreme  heat  of  our  summers  ?  In  the  country  or  upon  the 
factory  the  flat  roof  might  not  be  treated  for  use  ;  yet  aside  from  use 
it  is  better  in  every  respect,  so  far  as  safety,  ventilation,  and  other  ele¬ 
ments  of  comfort  or  utility  are  considered,  than  any  other  form  of  roof 
which  can  be  put  upon  any  kind  of  building.  Are  our  architects  capa¬ 
ble  of  making  a  flat-roofed  building  artistic,  or  pleasing  to  the  taste  ?' 
It  has  been  done  in  many  instances  ;  why  not  in  nearly  all  ? 

In  the  evolution  of  the  factory  all  the  faults  have  been  discovered 
and  remedied  which  now  infest  nearly  all  the  warehouses,  hospitals, 
dwelling-houses,  schoolhouses,  college  buildings,  and  other  examples- 
of  combustible  architecture  of  this  country. 

The  first  form  of  factory  roof  resembled  the  gambrel  roof  of  the 
dwelling-house.  In  early  days  it  was  constructed  of  solid  timbers  set 
wide  apart,  as  they  should  be,  covered  with  good  thick  boards  and 
shingled  ;  in  some  cases  the  shingles  were  laid  over  mortar.  I  have 
an  example  of  shingles  which  are  more  than  fifty  years  old  yet  still  in 
good  condition,  having  been  preserved  by  the  interposition  of  the 
mortar  between  the  shingles  and  the  roof  boards. 

This  method  of  outside  construction  might  not  be  objected  to  in 
itself  ;  on  the  inside,  however,  the  owners  were  apt  to  put  vertical 
sheathing  at  a  little  distance  from  the  eaves  and  horizontal  sheathing 
across  the  upper  timbers  of  the  roof,  making  a  cockloft.  These  hol¬ 
low  spaces,  in  which  fire  may  spread  out  of  the  reach  of  wrater,  are 
among  the  most  dangerous  elements  of  bad  construction,  especially 
when  connected  with  the  basement  or  the  cellar  by  vertical  flues  in  the 
walls  or  partitions  of  the  building. 

The  next  form  of  roof  came  into  vogue  when  heavy  timbers  were 
displaced  by  joist  or  plank  rafters  set  closer  together.  It  is  commonly 
known  among  factory  people  as  a  “barn-roof,”  consisting  of  an  ordi¬ 
nary  pitched  roof  made  of  rafters  set  eighteen  inches  or  two  feet  apart 
on  centres,  covered  outside  with  thin  boards  and  slated,  sheathed  inside 
vertically  at  the  eaves,  and  horizontally  across  the  apex. 

The  older  factory  roof  and  the  barn-roof  are  both  shown  in  the 
accompanying  illustration,  which  delineates  an  old  mill  from  which  a 
large  establishment  has  beer,  subsequently  developed. 


317 


VERY  OLD  WOOLEN  MILL  IN  NEW  HAMPSHIRE,  AND  A  MILL  OF  THE  SECOND  PERIOD  ATTACHED 
THERETO,  SHOWING  THE  BARN-ROOF,  SO  CALLED — THE  GERM  OF  A  LARGE  ESTABLISHMENT. 


318  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 

This  barn-roof  is  the  most  abominable,  unsafe,  and  atrocious  roof 
ever  devised  for  the  covering  of  buildings  of  any  kind.  The  slates 
serve  to  attract  the  heat  of  the  sun,  which  beats  in  through  the  inter¬ 
stices  of  the  open  boards  and  converts  the  interspaces  of  the  roof  into 
ovens  for  the  concentration  of  heat  and  for  its  distribution  throughout 
the  building,  especially  when  the  roof-spaces  are  connected  with  hol¬ 
low  walls.  The  most  effectual  method  of  diffusing  heat  in  a  factory 
has  proved  to  be  to  suspend  the  steam-heating  pipes  overhead,  at  some 
distance  from  the  walls — the  warm  air  following  the  cold  air  as  it 
passes  out  by  bottom  ventilation.  By  analogy  it  may  be  assumed  that 
the  heat  concentrated  by  the  slates  in  the  interspaces  of  a  hollow  roof 
diffuses  itself  through  the  hollow  walls  of  a  building  of  ordinary  con¬ 
struction.  Thus  the  thin-slated  roof  fails  in  summer  as  well  as  in 
winter.  In  this  kind  of  roof  a  hre  is  completely  protected  from  water  ; 
the  slates  when  exposed  to  outside  heat  are  readily  cracked  ;  they  then 
fall  and  cut  open  the  firemen’s  heads  ;  the  interspaces  at  the  eaves  also 
make  excellent  nesting- places  for  the  rats,  which  carry  into  them  oily 
waste  and  other  combustible  substances  to  be  ignited  by  spontaneous 
combustion  in  the  heat  of  summer,  to  the  partial  or  total  destruction 
of  many  a  mill. 

The  next  abomination  came  with  what  is  called  the  French  roof. 
This,  when  put  upon  the  top  of  a  factory,  is  nearly  as  bad  as  the  barn- 
roof  :  it  restricts  the  space  in  the  attic  within,  adds  greatly  to  the  cost 
of  the  building,  while  in  it  are  commonly  repeated  nearly  all  the  faults 
of  construction  of  the  barn-roof. 

The  next  roof  was  a  little  better.  It  consisted  of  a  flat  roof  made 
of  ordinary  plank  rafters  set  eighteen  inches  or  two  feet  apart  on 
centres,  covered  on  the  outside  with  boards  and  then  with  composition 
or  metal,  and  sheathed  within  upon  the  under  side  of  the  rafters.  The 
humidity  generated  in  any  room  warmer  than  the  external  air  and  in 
the  processes  of  many  of  the  manufacturing  arts  passes  into  the  inter¬ 
stices  of  this  roof,  where  the  moisture  is  condensed  on  the  under  side 
of  the  thin  boards  of  the  outer  covering,  from  which  it  drops  upon  the 
sheathing  and  rots  it,  while  the  interspaces  add  not  only  to  the  danger 
of  fire,  but  work  the  speedy  destruction  of  the  whole  roof  by  the  rot¬ 
ting  of  the  rafters,  especially  near  or  upon  the  walls.  This  roof  was 
usually  furnished  with  a  hollow  wooden  cornice,  also  bad  and  dangerous. 

It  remained  for  the  officers  of  the  Factory  Mutual  Insurance 
Company  to  suggest  that  the  same  solid  floor  which  is  required  in  the 
construction  of  the  mill  might  well  be  adopted  in  the  construction  of 
the  roof,  only  changed  so  as  to  give  a  pitch  of  half  an  inch  to  the  foot. 
It  was  also  suggested  by  the  underwriters  that  the  wooden  covings 
and  gutters  and  the  sham  hollow  cornices,  by  means  of  which  fire 
was  conveyed  from  building  to  building  in  the  great  Boston  conflagra- 


V 


319 


320  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 

tion,  were  a  dangerous  and  superfluous  element  in  the  construction  of 
the  roof  of  the  factory.  In  pursuance  of  these  suggestions  all  the 
former  bad  forms  described  gave  way  to  a  simple  deck  constructed  of 
three  inch-plank  grooved  and  splined,  placed  on  timbers  set  from 
eight  to  eleven  feet  apart  on  centres,  sheathed  underneath  between 
the  timbers  if  the  owner  desires  a  fine  finish,  and  covered  on  the  out¬ 
side  with  any  of  the  customary  materials  ;  the  ends  of  the  timbers 


THE  FACTORY  ROOF,  FIRST  DEVISED  BY  W.  B.  WHITING. 


sometimes  projecting  outside  the  wall  and  the  deck  carried  far  enough 
over  to  form  a  suitable  coving,  according  to  the  height  and  character 
of  the  building  ;  or  else  the  finish  may  consist  of  a  brick  cornice, 
without  gutters,  the  drainage  being  below. 

Again  :  the  old  type  of  textile  factory,  from  which  the  plans  of  a 
great  many  other  factories  have  been  derived,  was  very  narrow  and 
very  high.  It  had  not  entered  the  minds  of  the  constructors  of  the 
earlier  factories  that  the  spaces  of  wall  between  the  windows  might  be 
very  narrow  and  that  the  windows  might  be  very  wide  ;  nor  had  it 
apparently  occurred  to  any  one  that  the  tops  of  the  windows  had  bet¬ 
ter  be  carried  up  flush  or  even  with  the  ceiling  of  each  room  in  order 
that  the  light  might  be  better  diffused  within.  Consequently  the  wall 
of  the  factory  consisted  mainly  of  a  great  blank  of  brickwork  with 
small  holes  in  it  for  windows,  the  mill  being  seldom  more  than  fifty- 
two  feet  wide,  often  less,  and  many  stories  in  height.  The  illustration 
on  page  321  shows  mills  of  this  type,  nine  stories  high,  including 
attics. 

The  width  of  the  mill  was  gradually  extended  and  the  size  of 
the  windows  enlarged  by  degrees  ;  for  many  years  about  sixty-two 
feet  was  considered  the  proper  width  and  the  windows  began  to 
occupy  a  larger  part  of  the  wall  space,  while  the  wall  itself  was 
increased  in  thickness. 

At  last  it  was  discovered  that  if  the  tops  of  the  windows  were 
carried  up  flush  with  the  ceiling  and  as  much  space,  or  a  little  more, 
was  devoted  to  windows  as  to  wall,  the  width  of  the  mill  might  be 
carried  to  ninety  feet  ;  then  to  a  little  over  . one  hundred  feet. 


21 


321 


TYPES  ;  ONE  MILL  DESTROYED  BY  FIRE. 


322 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


Until  npw  in  England,  where  the  light  is  less  intense  than  in  this 
country,  cotton-mills  have  been  built  five  or  six  stories  in  height  and  one 
hundred  and  twenty-eight  feet  wide, — that  being  the  width  in  which 
certain  kinds  of  machinery  can  be  most  economically  placed  and  oper¬ 
ated, — with  six  feet  of  window  space  to  four  feet  of  wall,  the  tops  of 
the  window  panes  being  absolutely  flush  with  the  ceiling  between  the 
beams,  and  the  window  caps  placed  opposite  the  floors.  Of  late,  how¬ 
ever,  the  mutual  underwriters,  having  discovered  the  great  danger  of 
high  buildings  as  compared  with  those  of  wide,  low  construction,  began 
to  ask  their  members  who  were  about  to  build  mills  to  be  operated  by 


AMOSKEAG  MANUFACTURING  CO.,  MANCHESTER,  N.  H.  (CONSTRUCTED  BY  H.  F.  STRAW.) 


steam  power  in  the  open  country  :  “  Why  do  you  follow  this  inherited 
and  bad  type  of  building  ?  A  mill  of  two  or  three  stories  in  height 
can  be  constructed  at  less  cost  per  square  foot  of  floor  than  a  mill  of 
any  greater  number  of  stories  ;  if  you  have  room  enough,  even  a  one- 
story  mill  properly  constructed  may  be  built  at  as  low  a  cost  per  square 
foot  of  floor  as  the  mill  of  four  or  five  stories,  while  it  will  be  as  warm 
in  winter,  cooler  in  summer,  and  lighter  and  better  ventilated  all  the 
year  round  than  any  other  type  of  mill  can  possibly  be.”  Since  that 
suggestion  was  made  a  large  number  of  factories  of  only  one  story  in 


323 


LLS,  MASS.  (EDWARD  SAWYER. 


324 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


height,  covered  in  with  three-inch  pine  roofs,  protected  outside  with 
gravel  roofing,  tin,  or  with  cotton  duck  properly  prepared,  and  lighted 
with  what  are  known  as  monitors,  have  been  constructed  in  many  parts 
of  New  England,  ranging  from  half  an  acre  to  three  and  a  half  acres  in 
size  ;  a  very  common  type  being  a  mill  of  sixty  thousand  feet  on  the 
main  floor,  constructed  on  a  moderate  slope  so  as  to  give  a  basement 
under  one  third  of  the  mill  for  wet  work  or  for  other  subsidiary  pur¬ 
poses.  Such  one-story  buildings  are  best  adapted  to  weaving,  and  are 
often  built  in  connection  with  spinning-mills  of  two  or  three  stories  in 
height. 


DETAIL  OF  ONE-STORY  MILL. — NO.  2. 


In  one  instance,  in  a  case  where  the  machinery  is  very  heavy  and  is 
subject  to  great  vibration,  a  one-story  mill  of  this  sort  was  substituted 
for  one  of  two  four-story  factories  which  had  been  burned  ;  the  owners 
were  advised  to  reconstruct  a  one-story  mill  in  place  of  the  burned 
mill,  but  to  make  it  large  enough  to  accommodate  all  the  machinery 
then  in  the  other  four-story  mill  which  had  not  been  destroyed.  They 
were  warned  that  the  new  mill  would  bankrupt  the  old  one  on  account 
of  the  greater  economy  of  the  work  and  the  better  conditions  for  its 


325 


MILL  DEVISED  BY  W.  H.  H.  WHITING,  C.  E. — NO 


326  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 

operation.  The  prophecy  has  proved  true  :  sixty-seven  men  accom¬ 
plished  the  work  in  the  new  one-story  mill  on  the  same  machinery 
which  required  one  hundred  men  in  the  old  four-story  mill  ;  therefore 
that  old  mill  has  been  taken  down  in  order  to  make  way  for  the  exten¬ 
sion  of  the  one-story  factory,  and  the  old  material  has  been  put  together 
in  a  better  form. 

What,  then,  is  the  slow-burning  construction  ?  It  consists  simply  in 
consolidating  the  wooden  material  in  frame,  floor,  and  roof  in  such  a 
way  that  a  fire  can  be  held  long  enough  in  any  room  in  which  it 


may  originate  for  a  fairly  competent  fire  department,  public  or  private, 
to  get  it  under  control,  or  where  it  may  be  extinguished  or  held  in 
check  by  sprinklers.  The  timbers  used  may  be  solid  or  may  be  cut  in 
two  parts  to  be  bolted  together.  The  latter  is  perhaps  the  better  way, 
in  order  that  the  air  may  reach  the  centre  of  the  timber  and  season  it, 
great  care  also  being  taken  in  mill  practice  not  to  paint,  oil,  or  varnish 
the  outside  of  any  heavy  timber  for  at  least  three  years  after  it  has  been 
placed  in  the  building,  lest  what  is  called  dry  rot  should  occur  from  the 
fermentation  of  the  sap  in  the  green  timber.  Where  an  outside  finish 


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328 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


is  required  some  architects  use  the  timbers  in  two  parts  bolted  together 
with  an  air  space  between,  each  timber  being  also  bored  through  the 
centre  lengthwise  for  ventilation.  This  latter  plan  is  the  customary 
method  with  posts  when  wood  is  used  for  supports,  a  crossway  hole  be¬ 
ing  also  bored  near  the  top  and  bottom,  connecting  with  the  centre. 
Upon  these  heavy  timbers — which  are  commonly  placed  eight  or  ten 
feet  on  centres  resting  directly  on  properly  adjusted  posts  without  the 
interposition  of  any  girders  lengthwise  of  the  building,  in  lengths  or 
spans  from  eighteen  to  twenty-two  feet — the  floors  are  laid  of  plank 
not  less  than  three  inches  thick  when  the  beams  are  eight  feet  on  the 
centres.  If  the  beams  are  ten  feet  or  even  twelve  feet  apart  on  centres, 
ordinary  weights  will  be  carried  by  floors  consisting  of  four-inch  or 
five-inch  plank  ;  the  timbers  themselves  may  be  from  fifteen  to  not 
exceeding  twenty-two  feet  in  length  from  wall  to  post  and  from  post  to 
post,  for  ordinary  factory  loads.  If  provision  is  required  for  extra¬ 
ordinary  loads,  a  special  computation  should  be  made  to  meet  the  case. 
If  a  fine  finish  is  desired,  sheathing  may  be  placed  underneath  between 
the  timbers,  nailed  close  to  the  under  side  of  the  plank  ;  if  the  most 
absolute  security  against  fire  is  called  for,  the  finishing  may  consist  of 
plastering  laid  on  wire  lathing  close  against  the  plank.  This  plastering 
may  be  carried  around  the  outside  of  the  timber  on  the  line  of  the 
timbers,  provided  no  skim  coat  of  lime  putty  is  put  upon  the  plas¬ 
tering,  thereby  cutting  off  the  air  from  the  timber.  The  top  floor  may 
be  laid  directly  upon  the  plank,  or  a  layer  of  mortar  may  be  laid 
between  the  plank  and  the  top  floor  ;  in  some  cases  asbestos  paper  has 
been  interposed.  The  layer  of  mortar  offers  great  security  in  prevent¬ 
ing  the  passage  of  fire  downward.  The  roof  which  has  been  described 
corresponds  substantially  to  the  floor,  to  wit :  three-inch  plank  laid 
upon  the  timbers,  one-inch  sheathing  on  the  under  side  if  desired,  and 
sometimes  one-inch  boarding  on  the  plank  ;  then  the  ordinary  outer 
covering  of  whatever  kind  may  be  adopted.  If  the  roof  is  exposed  to 
great  humidity  within,  as  in  the  machine-room  of  a  paper-mill,  one  inch 
of  mortar  may  be  interposed  between  the  roof  boards  and  the  plank. 
This  latter  roof  proves  to  be  impervious  to  cold  or  heat,  and  with 
proper  means  of  ventilation  gives  security  against  any  possible  conden¬ 
sation  of  moisture  from  the  atmosphere  within. 

An  alternative  plan  consists  in  setting  the  first  line  of  posts  at  the 
right  distance  from  the  wall  to  make  a  passage-way,  the  floor  of  the 
alley  being  laid  of  two  thicknesses  of  plank  crossed — the  posts  being 
fitted  with  hackmatack  knees.  This  form  of  horizontal  truss  braced  to 
wall  and  post  gives  great  stability  to  the  building. 

If  the  building  is  over  one  story  in  height  the  stairways  ought  to  be 
placed  either  in  separate  towers  outside  the  building  proper,  or  else  in 
the  corners  of  the  building  surrounded  by  brick  walls,  the  doorways 


Slow- Bu rn ing  Construction .  329 

being  protected  by  adequate  fire-doors  consisting  of  wood  encased  in 
tin,  iron  being  one  of  the  most  treacherous  materials  customarily  made 
use  of  for  the  protection  of  doorways  in  party  walls.  In  such  a  factory 
no  cornice  is  required  or  permitted,  and  no  sheathing  within,  set  off  by 
furrings  from  the  wall  can  be  tolerated.  No  concealed  space  is  allowed 
anywhere  in  which  a  fire  can  pass  from  room  to  room  or  from  cellar  to 
attic.  Every  part  of  the  building  must  be  open,  so  that  water  from 
bucket  or  hose  can  be  thrown  anywhere. 


CONSTRUCTION  OF  FACTORY  DEVISED  BY  EDWARD  ATKINSON,  THE  PURPOSE  BEING 
TO  CONSTRUCT  THE  ALLEYWAYS  SO  THAT  THEY  SHALL  BECOME  HORIZONTAL 
TRUSSES,  TO  PREVENT  THE  VIBRATION  OF  THE  STRUCTURE. 

If  these  plans  and  specifications  are  compared  with  the  ordinary- 
method  of  combustible  architecture,  the  reason  will  be  apparent  why 
textile  factories,  paper-mills,  and  other  works  are  better  fire  risks  and 
are  insured  at  less  cost  than  the  average  so-called  stone  church,  brick 
hospital  or  asylum,  or  iron  warehouse,  although  the  nature  of  the  work 
done  carries  with  it  almost  every  cause  of  fire  hazard  from  ignition, 
friction,  or  spontaneous  combustion,  while  in  many  cases  the  material 
used  is  almost  explosive. 

The  method  of  Sartor  Resartus  may  well  be  applied  to  the  average 
hospital  or  asylum.  What  is  it  but  a  sham  ?  a  picture  composed  of 
brick-or  stone  clothing  or  screening  a  whited  sepulchre  well  prepared 
for  the  cremation  of  the  inmates  ?  It  consists  of  an  outer  wall  of  brick 
or  stone  inclosing  a  wooden  structure  of  the  most  dangerous  kind  ;  it 
is  usually  but  a  system  of  combustible  wooden  cells  each  connected 
with  the  other  from  cellar  to  attic  by  open  wooden  ways  in  walls,  floors, 
and  partitions  alike.  Had  the  motive  been  to  house  the  inmates  of 
most  hospitals,  asylums,  and  hotels  under  conditions  which  should 
assure  the  greatest  possible  destruction  of  life  and  property  from  the 


330  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 

least  possible  cause,  greater  success  could  not  have  been  secured  than 
has  been  attained  in  most  of  these  buildings,  in  many  of  which  the 
danger  is  enormously  increased  by  the  use  of  gasolene  vapor  for  light¬ 
ing.  How  soon  a  remedy  may  be  found  for  these  faults  rests  with  the 
public  to  decide.  The  builders  of  factories  in  city  or  in  country 
may  perhaps  derive  some  useful  information  from  this  description  of 


16 


DIAGRAM  SHOWING  THE  OUTER  LINE  OF  POSTS  (HORIZONTAL  TRUSSES  OR  ALLEY- 
WAYS)  AND  OUTER  WALLS,  SO  ADJUSTED  THAT  THE  FLOORS  INSIDE  THIS  LINE 
OF  POSTS  MAY  FALL  AWAY  FROM  THEM  WITHOUT  STRAINING  THE  POSTS  OR 
THE  WALL.  IN  ANY  CUSTOMARY  METHOD  THESE  POSTS  SHOULD  BE  FIRE¬ 
PROOF. 

slow-burning  construction,  for  the  reason  that  if  carried  out  consist¬ 
ently  and  economically  it  will  cost  less  than  the  ordinary  method 
of  combustible  architecture. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  add  that  a  mill  building  of  from  three  to 
five  stories  in  height  can  now  be  constructed  in  New  England  in  ac¬ 
cordance  with  these  plans  at  a  cost  above  the  foundation  varying  from 
sixty  to  seventy-five  cents  per  square  foot  of  floor,  counting  every 
floor,  but  not  counting  the  basement  unless  it  is  a  high  basement,  to 


Slow-Burning  Construction. 


33i 


be  made  use  of  in  the  same  way  that  the  other  floors  are  used.  The 
cost  per  square  foot  of  floor  will  vary  somewhat  according  to  the  posi¬ 
tion,  and  according  to  the  interior  finish  required  with  respect  to 
sheathing  and  other  matters.  A  mill  two  stories  in  height,  i.  <?.,  of  two 
floors  for  use,  can  be  constructed  at  somewhat  less  cost,  as  the  walls 
may  be  lighter  in  proportion  to  the  area. 


POSTS,  PINTLES,  AND  CAPS  CUSTOMARILY  ADOPTED  IN  MILL  CONSTRUCTION. 

Under  ordinary  conditions  a  mill  of  one  story  in  height  can  be 
•constructed  at  about  the  same  cost  per  square  foot  of  floor  as  the  four- 
or  five-story  mill  if  the  ground  is  level  and  the  subsoil  is  such  as  not 
to  require  any  excessive  expenditure  in  the  foundation.  A  lighter 
framework  and  less  expensive  methods  have  been  adopted  in  some 
cases  in  one-story  construction,  so  that  the  cost  of  the  building  per 
square  foot  of  floor  has  been  considerably  less  than  the  sum  named — 
even  as  low  as  fifty  cents  per  square  foot  of  floor.  For  many  pur¬ 
poses,  such  as  for  shoe  factories  or  other  light  work,  these  changes 
and  this  kind  of  economy  may  be  admitted,  provided  a  false  economy 
is  not  applied  in  the  construction  of  the  roof.  The  whole  comfort  and 


332 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


welfare  of  the  operative  in  the  one-story  factory  depends  upon  the 
solid  construction  of  the  roof  and  the  monitors,  the  plank  to  be  three 
inches  thick.  Ordinary  sloping  skylights  should  never  be  permitted,, 
as  they  transmit  heat  ;  while  the  monitor,  with  its  vertical  windows, 
reflects  the  heat  and  may  be  made  use  of  to  promote  ventilation.  In 
all  cases  the  windows  in  the  monitor  either  should  be  double  or  the 


sash  should  be  glazed  with  two  plates  of  glass  in  the  same  frame,  in 
order  that  the  condensation  of  moisture  on  the  inside  of  the  windows 
may  be  avoided.  Experience  proves  that  these  flat-roofed  buildings, 
even  when  constructed  from  one  to  three  acres  in  extent,  are  not 
more  liable  to  collect  snow  than  are  other  forms  of  roof,  and  they  are 

1  Specifications  for  Automatic  Fire-Door. — Door  to  be  made  of  dry  pine, 
matched  boards,  in.  thick  :  for  all  door  openings  smaller  than  4  ft.  X  6  ft.,  to  be  made 
of  two  thicknesses,  crossed  as  shown  at  H  and  I  on  plan,  and  for  all  door  openings  larger 
than  4  ft.  X  6  ft. ,  of  three  thicknesses  crossed,  to  be  thoroughly  nailed  with  clinch  nails. 

The  finished  door  to  be  covered  with  heavy  tin  upon  the  whole  surfaces  and 
edges,  leaving  no  wood  exposed  ;  tin  to  be  lock-jointed  and  without  solder.  The 
edges  to  be  covered  by  sheets  lapping  around  on  either  side,  as  shown  at  A  on  plan,  so 
as  to  leave  no  joint  on  the  edge. 

Door  to  be  hung  by  strong  “barn-door  hangers,”  which  may  be  found  at  any 
hardware  store.  The  rail  may  be  fastened  directly  the  wall,  or,  if  necessary,  put 
upon  a  wooden  stringer  tinned  on  the  outside.  In  either  case,  the  rail  is  to  be  bolted 
to  the  wall  by  bolts  passing  through  the  wall.  In  no  case  must  the  rail  be  fastened 
to  a  wooden  rail  which  is  held  by  nails  or  spikes  driven  into  wooden  plugs  driven  into' 
drill-holes  in  the  wall.  All  woodwork  to  be  tinned. 

Door  hangers  to  be  fastened  to  door  by  carriage-bolts  through  the  door,  and  not 
by  wood  screws. 

A  wooden  jamb-casing  “  K  ”  to  be  fastened  to  the  wall  by  through-bolts,  at  the 
lower  side  of  door-way,  with  a  wedge  recess  to  receive  the  door  and  force  it  against  the 


Slow-Burning  Construction. 


333 


'very  much  more  easily  cleared  of  the  snow  when  it  does  collect.  The 
English  saw-toothed  roof,  so  called,  generally  placed  over  their  weav¬ 
ing  buildings,  has  not  proved  to  be  desirable  in  this  country  north  of 
Philadelphia  owing  to  the  tendency  of  the  snow  to  collect  in  the 
valleys  ;  it  is  also  more  costly  than  the  roof  of  the  one-story  building 
lighted  by  monitors,  as  given  in  the  previous.  The  light  in  the  saw¬ 
toothed  roof  being  always  taken  from  the  north  may  possess  a  slight 
advantage,  but  in  the  monitor  the  windows  towards  the  south  can  be 
•clouded  so  that  there  will  be  no  objectionable  glare  within  the  room. 

The  plan  has  been  adopted  in  many  cases  of  carrying  the  brick¬ 
work  to  the  roof  between  the  windows  ;  more  often,  though,  the  brick 
or  stonework  is  carried  only  to  the  windowsills,  the  superstructure 
being  wholly  of  timber  and  glass. 

In  many  cases  it  is  desirable  that  there  should  be  no  open  space 
under  the  floor,  both  with  the  view  to  avoid  danger  and  to  give  stabil¬ 
ity  and  freedom  from  vibration  to  heavy  machinery.  To  meet  these 
conditions  special  plans  are  furnished  by  the  factory  mutual  companies 
for  laying  plank  directly  on  the  ground  without  danger  of  decay. 

It  is  not  a  pleasant  experience  for  the  officers  and  inspectors  of  the 
factory  mutual  insurance  companies  to  pass,  day  by  day,  bad  examples 
of  combustible  architecture  occupied  as  shoe  factories,  clothing  fac¬ 
tories,  and  the  like,  or  to  see  other  unsafe  buildings  in  which  branches 
of  industry  are  conducted  which  have  not  yet  come  under  the  super¬ 
vision  of  skilled  inspectors  and  underwriters,  but  which  in  their  intrin¬ 
sic  hazard  are  safer  than  the  textile  arts.  It  is  not  pleasant  to  witness 
the  mushroom  growth  of  five-story  wooden  buildings  standing  often  in 
the  middle  of  a  field  where  land  is  of  little  value,  in  which  hundreds 
of  people  may  be  daily  exposed  to  great  danger,  and  hundreds  of 

brick  jamb,  as  shown  by  section  of  K.  All  to  be  thoroughly  covered  with  tin,  same 
as  door.  Jamb-casing  to  be  made  of  stuff  not  less  than  two  inches  thick. 

A  stop,  shown  at  F,  to  be  fastened  to  floor,  placed  so  as  to  crowd  the  bottom 
of  door  against  the  brick  jamb. 

An  automatic  door-closer,  shown  at  D,  with  fusible  joint,  E,  to  be  placed  upon 
each  door,  when,  for  convenience  of  work,  the  door  must  be  kept  open.  One  end  of 
the  rod  which  keeps  the  door  open  can  be  held  over  a  hook,  from  which  it  can  be  removed 
at  night,  in  order  to  close  the  door.  The  rod,  made  of  wood,  is  cut  diagonally  across 
the  middle,  but  is  held  firm  by  the  copper  sleeve,  F.  This  sleeve  is  made  in  four 
parts,  each  soldered  longitudinally  to  the  other,  with  solder  which  melts  at  i6o°.  It 
is  expected  to  yield  and  to  permit  the  door  to  close  from  the  heat  of  a  fire  at  a  con¬ 
siderable  distance. 

If  the  door  must  be  painted,  white  paint  only  must  be  used.  The  tin  reflecting 
the  heat,  it  is  best  not  to  paint  at  all. 

A  threshold  from  i-|-  in.  to  3  in.  thick  should  be  placed  in  door-way  to  prevent 
flow  of  water,  in  case  of  a  small  fire,  from  one  room  to  another. 

This  door  was  first  devised  by  Hon.  Byron  Weston,  for  use  in  his  paper-mill. 
The  automatic-closing  apparatus  has  since  been  added. 


334 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 


thousands  or  even  millions  of  dollars’  worth  of  property  are  subject  to 
a  heavy  charge  for  insurance  because  the  buildings  have  no  right  to 
exist.  These  officers  and  inspectors  know  from  their  own  experience 
or  that  of  their  predecessors,  covering  fifty  years,  that  more  commodi¬ 
ous,  better  ventilated,  better  lighted,  more  comfortable,  and  safer 
buildings  could  be  constructed  for  the  same  or  for  less  money  than 
these  examples  of  combustible  architecture  usually  cost. 

It  would  not  be  within  the  province  of  this  article  to  describe  the 
customary  equipment  of  factories  with  pumps,  pipes,  hydrants,  auto¬ 
matic  sprinklers,  watchman’s  electric  record  clocks,  fire-escapes,  and 
the  like  ;  all  these  safeguards  are  fully  described  in  the  technical  pub¬ 
lications  of  the  factory  mutual  insurance  companies.  The  purpose  of 
this  paper  is  only  to  call  attention  to  the  relatively  low  cost  of  slow- 
burning  construction,  and  to  suggest  that  because  the  customary 
methods  of  building  are  bad  it  is  not  therefore  necessary  to  rush  to  the 
opposite  extreme  and  to  spend  money  in  futile  attempts  at  fire-proof 
building  for  ordinary  uses.  In  fact,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  fire¬ 
proof  building  :  a  building  may  be  constructed  wholly  of  incombusti¬ 
ble  material  and  may  yet  be  totally  destroyed  by  the  combustion  of 
the  contents,  especially  when  the  iron  members  of  such  a  building  are 
unprotected  from  the  heat  of  a  fire  among  the  contents.  Granite  is 
one  of  the  most  worthless  materials  for  withstanding  heat.  In  a  re¬ 
cent  fire  in  one  of  the  factories  insured  under  the  supervision  of  the 
writer  a  granite  post  12  X  12  inches  was  reduced  to  sand  by  the  same 
fire  that  burned  into  a  wooden  post  next  to  the  granite  less  than  one 
inch.  Sandstone  and  marble  are  not  quite  so  bad  ;  unprotected  iron 
is  most  treacherous  and  unsafe,  especially  cast  iron  ;  brick,  having 
already  passed  the  ordeal  of  fire,  is  substantially  indestructible,  and 
when  combined  in  a  suitable  manner  with  heavy  timber  and  plank, 
the  latter  being  protected  by  wire  lathing  or  by  other  methods  for  re¬ 
tarding  the  action  of  heat,  serves  the  best  for  the  safest  construction. 

In  recent  years  the  profession  of  the  architect  has  been  raised 
above  that  of  a  mere  artist  or  draughtsman,  capable  only  of  making  an 
attractive  elevation  and  of  planning  a  building  with  little  regard  to  the 
safe  or  suitable  disposition  of  the  material,  to  the  level  of  some  of  the 
architects  of  old  time,  who,  like  Brunelleschi,  combined  with  the  func¬ 
tions  of  the  artist  the  skill  of  the  craftsman,  the  builder,  and  the  en¬ 
gineer.  The  progress  of  combustible  architecture  is  therefore  likely 
to  be  checked  as  the  young  men  who  are  now  graduating  from  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  and  from  other  architectural 
schools  supply  the  places  of  those  who,  having  had  no  technical 
knowledge  themselves,  have  been  unable  to  prevent  the  owners  and 
contractors  from  committing  the  follies  in  construction  by  which  our 
cities  are  now  rendered  so  dangerous. 


Slow-Burning  Construction . 


335 


Objection  has  at  times  been  taken  by  some  architects  to  the  com¬ 
ments  of  the  mutual  underwriters  upon  the  architects’  customary 
methods,  that  the  factory  building  planned  and  constructed  under 
their  supervision  is  but  a  shell  or  skeleton  of  the  building  which  the 
architect  is  commonly  called  upon  to  plan  and  supervise.  This  may 
be  admitted  ;  yet  there  have  been,  and  are,  architects  who  have  proved 
themselves  competent  to  clothe  this  skeleton  and  to  adapt  it  to  more 
aesthetic  purposes  than  the  factory,  by  covering  the  timbers  in  such 
a  way  as  to  make  the  method  of  construction  even  safer  and  more 
slow-burning  than  when  the  timbers  are  left  clear,  without  losing 
sight  of  the  prime  motive — safety  of  property  and  of  life.  The  great 
warehouse  built  by  Richardson  and  his  successors  for  Marshall  Field 
is  but  a  glorified  cotton  factory,  and  the  lovely  little  building  connected 
with  the  home  office  of  Mr.  Richardson  in  which  his  art  treasures 
were  safely  housed  was  but  the  picker  building  of  a  cotton  factory  with 
a  touch  of  genius  added. 

Moreover,  the  architects  themselves  are  now  finding  it  expedient  to 
adopt  the  same  method  of  subdivision  in  their  work  which  has  become 
necessary  not  only  in  many  of  the  practical  arts  but  even  in  the  legal 
.profession,  viz.,  either  to  employ  special  experts  in  the  different  de¬ 
partments,  or  else  to  organize  firms  in  which  one  should  be  the  artist, 
another  the  builder,  another  the  engineer.  Modern  requirements 
make  specialization  necessary,  and  there  are  few  indeed  who  can  qual¬ 
ify  themselves  for  all  the  requirements  of  almost  any  profession. 

In  view  of  the  attention  which  is  now  being  given  to  the  applica¬ 
tion  of  the  “  factory  floor  ”  (as  it  is  called)  and  the  “  factory  roof  ”  to 
other  buildings,  it  may  be  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  it  will 
be  safe  and  prudent  for  the  owner  who  intends  to  construct  a  textile 
factory  to  employ  a  professional  architect  without  incurring  the  danger 
that  the  purpose  to  which  the  building  is  to  be  put  will  be  lost  sight  of 
in  the  attempt  to  apply  meretricious  or  misplaced  art  to  a  building  in 
which  economy  and  utility  must  not  be  disregarded. 


THE  MISSING  SCIENCE 


22 


r 


THE  MISSING  SCIENCE.1 


COCTOR  NON  DOCTOR. 

[In  public  addresses  and  in  private  demonstrations  Mr.  Edward  Atkinson  of  Bos¬ 
ton  has  shown  the  remarkable  results  of  his  investigations  on  cookery.  He  has  now 
made  such  arrangements  that  others  can  profit  by  them.  The  “  Aladdin  ”  cook-box,  or 
portable  stove,  which  can  be  carried  anywhere  and  used  anywhere,  is  now  ready 
for  sale. 

Mr.  Atkinson  permits  us  to  print  some  passages  from  a  paper  which  he  read  to 
the  Boston  Thursday  Club,  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  distinguished  of  the  Boston 
clubs.  The  reader  will  see  at  once  that  the  new  invention  takes  rank  among  the  foremost 
improvements  which  affect  the  health,  comfort,  and  larger  life  of  our  time. — Editor.] 

THE  struggle  to  support  the  material  life  of  men  and  women  is 
directed  : 

First  :  To  putting  a  few  bits  of  board,  supported  by  brick, 
timber,  or  stone,  over  our  heads  for  shelter. 

Second  :  In  this,  the  best-clothed  country  in  the  world,  to  con¬ 
verting  on  an  average  each  year  sixteen  pounds  of  cotton  and  ten 
pounds  of  wool  per  capita  into  cloth,  carpets,  blankets,  and  other 
textile  fabrics.  [An  average  family  of  five  persons  consumes  annually 
eighty  pounds  of  cotton,  worth  $8.00,  and  fifty  pounds  of  wool,  worth, 
in  the  grease,  $10.00  per  year.]  The  average  of  raw  cotton  and  wool 
per  capita  being  about  $1.80. 

Third  :  To  securing  our  food  and  preparing  it,  the  proportion 
varying  in  some  measure  with  the  section  of  the  country  and  the 
climate. 

The  provision  for  shelter  and  the  adequacy  of  the  shelter  varies 
more  than  any  other  element  in  life  in  ratio  to  the  income  of  the 
family.  Working  people  do  not  have  as  many  clothes  at  one  time, 
but  they  wear  out  more  clothing  than  the  well-to-do.  There  is  a  closer 
approach  to  communism  or  equality  in  the  food  supply  than  in  any 
other  element  of  life  ;  food  differs  in  quality  more  than  in  quantity, 
but  the  working-man  can  eat  more  and  digest  more  than  the  man  of 
leisure.  An  average  workingman  at  moderate  work  must  have  one 
quarter  of  a  pound  of  nitrogeneous  food  or  protein,  one-eighth  of  a 

1  Reprinted  from  Lend-a-hand. 

339 


340 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


pound  of  fat,  and  one  and  a  quarter  pounds  of  starch  every  day,  com¬ 
bined  with  water,  making  three  and  a  half  to  four  pounds  a  day. 
Those  who  do  the  hardest  work  require  more  fat  and  protein  and  less 
starch. 

Physiologists  differ  a  little  as  to  the  relative  chemical  proportion 
of  the  nutrients  which  are  considered  necessary  for  subsistence,  yet 
when  their  formulae  are  reduced  to  calories,  or  mechanical  equivalents 
of  heat,  the  dietaries  established  by  Voit,  Playfair,  and  others  become 
almost  identical.  The  application  of  the  system  of  calories ,  or  the 
mechanical  equivalents  of  heat,  to  the  food  question,  has  been  invented 
and  adopted  by  Professor  Atwater  in  his  researches  upon  food,  with 
some  very  curious  results,  On  comparing  two  tables  of  the  amounts 
of  food  consumed  by  working-men,  he  struck  two  cases  where  the 
heat  units  of  the  food  said  to  be  consumed  were  double  that  of  a 
German  soldier  on  a  forced  march.  Thinking  there  must  be  an  error 
in  the  statement,  he  investigated  more  closely.  In  both  cases  he 
struck  a  brick-yard  ;  one  in  Somerville,  Mass.,  the  other  near  Middle- 
town,  Conn.  In  both  these  cases  the  proprietors  had  found  that  they 
could  obtain  the  greatest  tale  of  bricks  by  feeding  their  workmen  with 
the  largest  amount  of  beef  :  the  dietaries  were  correct  at  double  the 
amount  of  food  consumed  by  the  German  soldier. 

When  computed  by  the  day  the  requisite  amount  of  food  seems 
small  ;  three  to  five  pounds  of  solid  and  liquid  food  to  an  average 
working-man  ;  by  the  year,  however,  according  to  our  extravagant 
mode  of  using  food,  so  much  of  which  is  wasted,  each  adult  needs  to 
have  prepared  for  him  two  hundred  to  three  hundred  pounds  of  meat, 
about  two  hundred  pounds  of  flour,  making  two  hundred  and  eighty 
pounds  of  bread,  fifty  to  one  hundred  pounds  of  milk,  fifty  to  one 
hundred  pounds  of  butter,  fifty  to  one  hundred  pounds  of  sugar,  six 
hundred  to  seven  hundred  pounds  of  vegetables,  one  hundred  pounds 
of  salt,  pepper,  cheese,  fruit,  spices,  and  sundries,  making  from  fifteen 
hundred  to  seventeen  hundred  pounds  in  all.  In  many  cases,  in  the 
families  of  the  well-to-do,  a  ton  of  food  is  converted  to  use  or  to 
waste,  as  the  case  may  be,  in  each  year  for  each  person.  The  flour, 
meat,  and  butter  may  be  brought  over  the  railway  one  or  two  thousand 
miles  at  the  price  of  a  day’s  wages  of  a  working-man. 

In  the  past  few  years  all  the  utilitarian  sciences  have  been  wonder¬ 
fully  developed,  and  scientific  methods  have  been  applied  in  almost  all 
arts  relating  to  the  production  and  distribution  of  materials  ;  but  there 
is  one  art,  perhaps  the  most  important  of  all  in  its  relation  to  the  mate¬ 
rial,  moral,  and  intellectual  welfare  of  the  community,  to  which  little  or 
no  science  has  as  yet  been  applied  ;  in  which  there  is  no  well  devel¬ 
oped  technical  art  capable  of  being  taught  upon  a  scientific  method,  or 
of  being  learned  except  by  empirical  practice,  and  that  empirical  prac- 


34i 


The  Missing  Science . 

tice  is  usually  conducted  by  a  very  ignorant  class  of  persons.  That 
factor  in  life  upon  which  comfort,  health,  and  strength  most  fully  de¬ 
pend  has  been  almost  entirely  overlooked,  ignored,  and  neglected  to 
the  end  that  I  can  find  no  book  treating  this  subject  which  even 
approaches  the  standard  of  science  as  applied  in  the  other  arts  ;  no 
attempts  are  made  to  teach  this  fundamental  art,  on  which  we  all 
depend,  that  are  above  the  level  of  a  mere  jumble  of  empirical  devices. 
This  fundamental  science  to  which  I  refer  is  the  science  of  applying 
heat  to  the  materials  which  we  eat,  commonly  called  cooking.  I  think 
that  you  will  all  concur  with  me  in  this  statement  when  I  set  before 
you  the  facts  which  are  capable  of  illustration,  and  which  will  be  illus¬ 
trated  by  the  apparatus  now  before  you.1  In  any  family  in  which  two 
kerosene  lamps,  each  having  a  circular  wick  of  one  and  a  quarter  to 
one  and  a  half  inches  diameter,  are  burned  for  the  purpose  of  lighting 
the  household  four  hours,  a  sufficient  amount  of  heat  is  wasted  to  cook 
fifty  to  sixty  pounds  of  bread,  meat,  and  vegetable  food,  with  the  ex¬ 
penditure  of  one  quart  to  three  pints  of  kerosene  oil,  costing  by  the 
barrel,  for  the  best  quality,  two  and  one  half  cents  per  quart.  Sixty 
pounds  of  cooked  food  would  be  sufficient  for  the  supply  of  fifteen  adult 
working  people. 

In  this  oven  which  is  made  of  wood-pulp  one  inch  in  thickness,  I 
can  prepare  four  charges  of  food  in  eight  hours  ;  two  charges  of  ten 
pounds  each  of  bread,  two  charges  of  fifteen  pounds  each  of  fish,  meat, 
vegetables,  and  puddings.  By  its  use  a  family  of  five  persons  can  do 
every  thing  but  fry  ;  they  can  stew,  simmer,  bake,  and  roast  in  this 
oven,  and  can  readily  prepare  twenty  pounds  of  food  a  day,  with  a 
consumption  of  oil  not  exceeding  two  cents’  worth. 

I  have  placed  in  this  oven  three  and  one  half  pounds  of  round 
steak,  with  one  half  pound  of  suet,  two  pounds  of  corned-beef,  two 
pounds  of  salt  codfish,  one  half  pound  salt  pork,  three  pounds  of  veal, 
one  pound  of  ham,  two  pounds  of  potatoes,  one  half  pound  of  beets, 
one  half  pound  of  carrots,  one  pound  of  cornmeal,  one  pound  of  oat¬ 
meal,  and  one  and  a  half  pounds  of  milk,  making  nineteen  pounds  in 
all,  combined  in  six  different  dishes,  the  total  cost  being  $2.10.  These 
are  all  dishes  which  require  long,  slow  cooking,  and  they  have  been 
subjected  to  the  heat  of  the  lamp  for  four  hours.  The  corresponding 
starchy  food  which  should  be  added  to  this  ration  of  meat  and  other 
articles  would  be  sixteen  to  twenty  pounds  of  bread,  sixteen  to  twenty 
pounds  of  potatoes,  and  a  few  condiments.  The  whole  cost  of  sixty 
pounds  in  this  combination,  which  would  be  cooked  on  the  same  day  in 
this  oven,  with  one  quart  of  oil  costing  two  and  one  half  cents,  would 
be  $3.20,  making  sixteen  full  rations  at  twenty  cents  each  for  an  aver- 

1  This  was  written  for  a  club,  and  while  being  read  twelve  separate  preparations  of 
food  were  cooked  in  two  ovens  with  two  lamps. 


34 2  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 

0 

age  working-man,  or  twenty  average  rations  for  a  working-woman  not 
engaged  in  arduous  or  mechanical  labor. 

In  this  other  oven  of  a  little  different  construction  I  have  prepared 
some  rather  fine  cooking  ;  the  contents  are  four  pounds  of  the  best 
sirloin  and  tenderloin  steak,  cut  very  thick,  without  bone  or  flank,  pre¬ 
pared  with  mushrooms  ;  three  pounds  of  halibut  a  la  creme  j  eight 
quail,  a  dish  of  macaroni,  a  dish  of  stewed  celery,  a  dish  of  salsify,  or 
oyster  plant.  There  is  hardly  room  for  the  right  proportion  of  pota¬ 
toes  with  these  six  dishes,  and  I  have  therefore  decided  that  the  family 
oven  for  a  family  of  eight  persons  should  be  two  inches  longer  in  order 
to  make  room  for  the  additional  quantity  of  vegetable  food  called  for 
with  this  quantity  of  fish  and  meat.  A  good  deal  more  could  be  put  in 
if  tin  pans  were  used  instead  of  vegetable  dishes,  but  I  think  that  fine 
cooking  is  better  done  in  porcelain  or  in  china  than  in  metal. 

Now  when  we  consider  the  nature — I  may  say  the  infernal  nature 
— of  the  common  cooking  range  or  stove  or  frying-pan,  as  commonly 
used,  especially  infernal  in  summer  in  the  small  houses  and  dwelling- 
places  of  the  working  people,  I  think  that  you  will  be  prepared  to 
admit  that  there  has  as  yet  been  no  practical  science  in  applying  heat 
to  the  cooking  of  food.  There  has  been  a  great  deal  of  art  and 
perhaps  some  science  applied  to  the  preparation  of  food  to  be  cooked, 
but  this  is  a  separate  matter. 

Now,  when  we  bear  in  mind  that  the  price  paid  for  the  materials  of 
food  by  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  people  of  this  country  takes  up  one  half 
of  the  income  of  the  family,  or  more,  I  think  that  you  will  again  concur 
with  me  that  there  is  no  new  science  which  could  be  presented  for  your 
consideration  of  greater  importance  than  the  science  in  which  I  pro¬ 
pose  to  make  a  crude  beginning  at  this  time. 


Let  me  refer  to  the  common  impression  that  the  rice-fed  coolies  of 
India  and  China  are  very  strong,  and  that  they  derive  their  strength 
exclusively  from  their  diet  of  rice.  Now  rice  is  almost  all  starch  it 
contains  a  very  small  amount  of  protein,  or  nitrogeneous  material, 
which  is  necessary  for  the  formation  of  muscle  ;  hence  a  rice-fed  popu¬ 
lation  would  be  an  under-fed  population.  In  a  recent  report  which  I 
have  received,  made  on  behalf  of  the  English  government,  the  compe¬ 
tition  of  India  wheat  with  that  raised  by  English  farmers  is  treated,  and 
the  limit  of  production  of  the  wheat  which  can  be  exported  is  stated  to 
be  the  amount  of  available  land  which  can  be  spared  from  the  cultiva¬ 
tion  of  rice  and  pulse.  That  word  pulse  reveals  the  secret  ;  leguminous 
plants,  peas,  beans,  and  the  like,  are  rich  in  nitrogen,  and  by  that  report 
it  appears  that  a  much  larger  proportion  of  land  is  devoted  in  India  to 
the  cultivation  of  the  pulse  crop  than  to  the  rice  crop.  There  is  also 


The  Missing  Science . 


343 


an  upland  rice  of  which  we  know  little  in  this  country,  which  I  have 
reason  to  believe  is  more  nutritious  than  the  swamp  rice. 


While  the  ordinary  cookery  book  is  deficient  in  any  scientific 
instruction,  yet  there  is  one  noted  cookery  book  which  contains  a 
famous  receipt — Mrs.  Glass,  in  her  celebrated  receipt  for  cooking  a 
hare,  says  :  “  You  must  first  catch  your  hare.”  In  my  instructions  for 
cooking  I  lay  down  the  rule  :  “You  must  first  catch  your  heat,  and 
then  keep  it  where  it  will  do  the  work  in  the  right  way.” 

My  first  hint  how  to  do  this  was  derived  from  a  description  of  the 
Norwegian  Cooking  Box  ;  I  had  never  seen  one.  The  instinct  of  the 
Norwegians  had  taught  them  that  the  most  suitable  buildings  for  their 
climate  should  be  built  of  timber  and  plank  massed  together  in  thick 
walls,  wood  being  the  most  effective  of  all  non-conductors  of  heat  that 
could  be  put  to  common  use. 

The  Norwegian  cooking  apparatus  consists  of  a  box  of  wood  lined 
with  hair  felt,  or  fur,  and  then  with  metal.  A  smaller  box  made  of 
metal,  adapted  to  receive  the  food,  fits  loosely  in  this  outer  case.  The 
space  around  this  inner  box  is  filled  with  boiling  water,  and  the  heat, 
being  kept  in  by  the  non-conducting  outer  wall,  does  its  work  upon  the 
food,  of  course  at  somewhat  below  the  boiling  point.  This  proves  at 
once  to  you  that  there  is  no  necessary  connection  between  the  boiling 
point,  which  at  our  sea  level  is  212  degrees  Fahrenheit,  and  the  degree 
of  heat  necessary  to  do  the  cooking  of  our  food.  This  fact  was  dis¬ 
covered  by  accident,  even  by  Count  Rumford,  who  had  thought  that 
the  way  to  boil  meat  is  to  boil  it,  when,  in  fact,  the  way  to  spoil  meat  is 
to  boil  it.  A  leg  of  mutton  was  accidentally  left  by  him  all  night  in 
a  drying  room  used  for  other  purposes,  and  exposed  to  a  heat  from 
about  140  to  180  degrees,  as  I  remember  the  statement ;  in  the  morning, 
to  Count  Rumford’s  surprise,  instead  of  being  dried  up,  it  was  nutri¬ 
tiously  cooked  and  of  full  flavor. 

In  order  to  convert  the  Norwegian  Cooking  Box  into  a  constant 
cooker,  all  that  was  necessary  for  me  to  do  was  to  add  a  circulatory 
apparatus  similar  to  the  one  with  which  your  bath  boilers  are  heated. 
This  was  the  apparatus  which  I  brought  to  a  meeting  of  the  club  three 
or  four  years  ago.  Into  it  a  working-man  may  put  the  materials  for  a 
hearty  breakfast,  light  the  lamp,  go  to  bed,  and  on  getting  up  find  his 
breakfast  ready  ;  but  with  ithat  apparatus  I  could  only  simmer  and 
stew,  and  the  American  people  will  not  be  satisfied  with  stews.  In 
some  of  the  reports  of  the  lectures  which  I  gave  to  the  working-men, 
when  put  on  file  in  the  public  libraries,  curious  comments  have  been 
made.  For  instance:  “We  don’t  want  your  pigwash,”  “We  won’t 
have  bone  soup*;  we  want  sirloin,”  etc.,  etc.  I  have  therefore  substi- 


344 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


tuted  a  column  of  heated  air  for  the  column  of  heated  water  in  this- 
oven,  in  which  you  can  not  only  simmer  and  stew,  but  also  roast  and 
bake.  There  is,  as  you  will  observe,  no  direct  communication  between 
the  lamp,  or  source  of  heat,  and  the  inside  of  the  inner  oven,  in  which 
the  food  is  placed  ;  therefore  if  the  lamp  smokes  or  gives  off  fumes  of 
kerosene  oil,  for  want  of  being  rightly  trimmed,  the  food  is  not  tainted. 

I  have  made  no  attempt  to  promote  the  general  introduction  of 
this  apparatus,  until  it  should  be  completely  perfected  and  reduced  in 
cost.  My  first  experimental  ovens  were  wholly  made  of  metal,  filled 
with  non-conducting  material,  and  were  costly.  We  have  used  this 
apparatus  in  my  own  family  for  more  than  one  year,  and  have  done,  at 
least,  nine  tenths  of  our  cooking  with  it.  We  have  been  obliged  to 
light  the  range  to  warm  the  kitchen,  and,  it  being  lighted,  some  of  the 
breakfast  cooking  has  been  done  on  it.  I  also  light  my  household 
with  kerosene  oil,  as  I  detest  gas-light.  Our  family  consists  of  from 
ten  to  twelve  persons  ;  I  buy  the  best  oil  by  the  barrel,  and  it  costs  me 
ten  cents  a  gallon.  My  bill  of  oil  for  lighting  and  cooking  for  the  year 
has  been  thirty  dollars. 

A  lunch  has  been  established  for  the  employees  in  my  own  office, 
as  well  as  for  myself.  About  twenty  persons  are  served  with  a  sub¬ 
stantial  mid-day  meal  every  day  ;  since  we  began  a  little  over  four 
thousand  meals  have  been  served.  We  are  obliged  to  buy  our  oil  in 
small  parcels,  at  retail  prices,  therefore  the  cost  of  fuel  has  been  seven 
tenths  of  a  cent  per  meal  ;  at  wholesale  it  would  have  been  one  half  a 
cent.  The  plan  works  to  the  great  benefit  of  the  employees,  whose 
mid-day  lunch,  or  dinner,  costs  them  eighteen  to  twenty  cents  each  for 
food  and  fuel. 

Astonishing  as  these  facts  are  in  regard  to  the  economy  of  fuel,  I 
am  of  the  opinion  that  this  is  purely  a  secondary  matter  ;  economy  of 
food  is  of  the  first  importance,  coupled  with  the  saving  of  work  on  the 
part  of  the  cook.  I  have  proved,  I  think  conclusively,  that  the  oper¬ 
ation  of  heating  a  room,  or  of  heating  water  for  circulation  through 
the  house,  is  absolutely  inconsistent  with  the  true  methods  of  cooking. 
Heat  cannot  be  properly  regulated  for  cooking  when  applied  to  other 
purposes.  If  I  were  to  build  again,  I  should  make  arrangements  for 
heating  the  water  from  the  furnace,  with  a  small  heater  set  alongside 
the  furnace  for  summer  use,  and  in  place  of  the  range  in  the  kitchen 
I  would  put  a  small  heater,  like  a  flat-iron  heater,  with  a  place  to  boil 
water  on  the  top.  One  of  my  friends  has  built  and  furnished  a  house 
in  this  way  and  is  quite  enthusiastic  over  it.  I  might  add  a  grill,  which 
is  very  useful  in  any  household,  but  my  main  dependence  for  cooking 
would  be  upon  the  lamp,  or  Aladdin,  oven. 

In  the  development  of  the  science  of  cooking  I  think  it  will  ap¬ 
pear  that  there  is  a  true  degree  of  heat  by  which  flavors  are  developed 


The  Missing  Science.  345 

or  actually  created  ;  for  instance,  if  we  grind  green  coffee  we  get  no 
good  result  and  no  true  flavor  ;  if  we  roast  it  too  much  we  destroy  the 
flavor  and  get  an  acrid  and  impalatable  residuum.  If  we  apply  the 
exact  degree  of  heat  to  roasting  the  berry,  we  develop  the  flavor  and 
other  qualities  which  are  desired.  I  have  lately  observed  that  the 
same  rule  seems  to  apply  in  the  application  of  heat  to  meat,  fish,  vege¬ 
tables,  and  meal,  especially  cornmeal.  If  not  cooked  enough,  meat 
will  be  sapid  and  flavorless  ;  if  cooked  too  much,  flavorless  and  soggy 
if  cooked  at  the  exact  point,  the  finest  flavors  are  developed,  especially 
in  fish  and  fruit. 

The  advantages  which  are  beginning  to  be  apparent  in  the  use  of 
these  ovens  are  as  follows  : 

First :  In  respect  to  bread.  Bread  baked  twice  the  usual  time  at 
300  to  320  degrees  Fahrenheit  does  not  quickly  become  covered  with 
a  hard  crust,  as  in  the  common  stove.  This  crust  when  formed  is  a 
non-conductor,  being  like  wood,  carbonaceous  in  character  ;  this  pre¬ 
vents  the  penetration  of  heat,  so  that  the  interior  of  the  loaf  is  not 
cooked.  It  is  also  said  that  in  such  case  the  yeast  plant  is  not  killed  and 
may  go  on  fermenting,  or  else  the  bread  moulds  quickly  or  dries  up.  In 
bread  baked  in  my  oven  the  heat  penetrates  to  the  very  centre  ;  it  may 
be  eaten  fresh  with  impunity,  and  can  be  kept  sweet  for  many  days.  It 
may  even  be  over-baked  with  good  results.  In  some  of  the  over- 
baked  loaves,  especially  those  which  are  three  or  four  days  old,  there 
is  a  crust-like  flavor  throughout,  probably  due  to  the  partial  conver¬ 
sion  of  the  starch  into  dextrine.  I  have  kept  bread  of  this  kind  in 
good  condition  for  eight  days. 

Second  :  In  respect  to  meat.  It  begins  to  be  apparent  that  the 
right  method  of  cooking  meat  is  to  keep  it  at  such  a  degree  of  heat  as 
will  cook  it  without  dissociating  or  “  cracking  ”  the  animal  fats  or 
converting  the  juices  into  volatile  vapor.  Cooked  in  this  way  tough 
meat  becomes  tender.  I  also  find  that  in  proportion  to  the  freedom 
from  the  smell  of  cooking  is  the  flavor  retained.  I  am  informed  by 
physicians  that  when  animal  fats  are  cooked  in  this  way  the  fats  of  the 
meat  remain  nutritious  and  digestible,  whereas,  if  the  fats  are  exposed 
to  a  high  degree  of  heat,  so  that  the  volatile  parts  are  “  cracked, ,”  or 
dissociated,  the  remainder  of  the  fat  becomes  acrid  and  indigestible. 
It  is  possible  that  we  may  impute  the  prevailing  dyspepsia  of  the 
day  to  the  highly  heated  ovens  of  the  range  or  stove  in  their  effect 
on  fats,  as  well  as  to  the  frying-pan. 

There  is  one  point  which  requires  a  little  skill  :  it  is  difficult  to  brown 
meats  or  poultry  so  as  to  give  as  good  an  appearance  as  is  desirable. 
We  have  succeeded  fairly  well  in  imparting  a  brown  appearance  and 
appetizing  look  to  many  of  our  dishes  by  the  skilful  use  of  powdered, 
crackers  and  butter,  which  brown  more  readily  than  the  fat  of  the 


346 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


meat  itself.  But,  in  order  to  give  a  fine  aesthetic  effect  to  a  bird  or  a 
joint,  all  that  is  necessary  to  be  done  is  to  have  a  larger  lamp,  or  such 
as  I  call  a  Jumbo  lamp,  whose  wick  is  nine  inches  in  circumference,  and 
which  is  160  candle  power,  for  final  use.  A  short  and  careful  applica¬ 
tion  of  this  lamp  for  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  does  the  work  of  browning 
extremely  well. 

I  have  taught  three  cooks  of  average  capacity  how  to  use  these 
ovens  each  in  a  single  lesson,  and  they  have  never  served  a  meal  in 
which  any  part  was  spoiled.  Occasionally  some  kind  of  vegetable 
(vegetables  requiring  a  higher  degree  of  heat  than  meat),  with  which 
we  were  not  perfectly  familiar,  has  been  served  underdone.  Sometimes 
a  big  joint  of  meat  has  not  been  kept  in  the  oven  quite  long  enough.  We 
have  been  obliged  to  experiment  with  each  oven  ;  each  has  a  different 
normal ,  so  to  speak  ;  but  we  have  cooked  to  perfection  in  comparison 
with  any  other  method,  sirloins  of  beef  weighing  twenty-four  pounds, 
turkeys,  and  geese  weighing  eighteen  pounds  each,  a  whole  saddle  of 
venison,  which  weighed,  untrimmed,  twenty-five  pounds,  and  also 
single  pounds  of  meat  and  small  birds  ;  all  weights  and  kinds  have 
been  put  to  the  test.  Parts  of  the  meat,  like  the  flank  of  the  sirloin, 
which  are  spoiled  when  roasted  with  the  joint,  we  cut  off  and  simmer 
in  the  cooker,  and  afterwards  convert  into  the  most  appetizing  dishes 
in  the  oven. 

Again,  meat  which  has  not  been  subjected  to  a  high  degree  of  heat 
makes  a  better  hash  or  mince,  and  has  no  unpleasant  tang..  It  would 
be  difficult  to  distinguish  between  two  turkeys,  one  re-heated  and  the 
other  freshly  cooked  ;  I  attribute  this  to  the  fact  that  the  fats  are  not. 
dissociated  by  the  low  temperature,  and  there  is  no  flavor  of  grease 
rendered. 

This  is  all  I  yet  know  about  this  somewhat  crude  invention  some¬ 
what  crudely  used  ;  the  whole  field  of  this  new  science  remains  to  be 
explored.  I  have  somewhat  to  my  own  surprise,  lately  come  into 
possession  of  a  small  literary  income.  I  have  somewhat  the  same 
feeling  about  it  that  I  had  when  I  received  a  check  for  my  first  article 
printed  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  j  it  did  not  seem  to  belong  to  me,  I 
therefore  expended  it  for  Christmas  presents,  and  my  children  were 
somewhat  surprised  at  my  unwonted  liberality.  The  next  year,  not 
having  received  a  check,  my  presents  were  smaller,  and  my  little  girl 
asked  me  why  I  did  not  give  them  more. 

“  I  have  no  money  to  spend  this  year,”  I  replied.  At  which  she 
rejoined  : 

“Well,  papa,  I  think  you  might  write  another  article  for  the 
A.tlantic  ;  anybody  might  do  that  !  ” 

But  when  one  is  engaged  in  active  business,  and  can  only  give  little 
bits  of  time  to  literary  work,  without  any  real  opportunity  for  consecu- 


The  Missing  Science . 


347 


tive  thought,  a  literary  income  hardly  seems  earned.  I  have  therefore 
devoted  the  fee  of  an  article  yet  to  be  written  to  experiments  conducted 
by  Miss  Marion  Talbot,  under  the  superintendence  of  Mrs.  Richards, 
at  the  Institute  of  Technology,  by  which  I  have,  at  least,  partly  proved 
that  all  my  theories  are  well  grounded. 

Miss  Talbot’s  report  is  a  model  in  scientific  form.  After  describing 
the  personal  equation,  and  after  referring  to  the  eminent  olfactory 
abilities  of  one  of  the  professors,  she  says  :  “  Miss  Talbot  came  to  the 
work  with  some  training  in  physics  and  chemistry,  a  knowledge  of 
housekeeping  and  marketing,  considerable  ease  in  turning  from  one 
occupation  to  another,  and  almost  uniform  failure  in  the  few  attempts 
she  had  made  to  cook  in  an  ordinary  stove  or  range.  Miss  Bragg’s 
ignorance  in  regard  to  cooking  was  still  greater,  but  was  offset  by 
promptitude,  intelligence,  and  ability  to  conquer  obstacles.  The  in¬ 
experience  of  the  cooks,  which  at  the  outset  seemed  to  doom  the  work 
to  failure,  from  an  epicurean  standpoint,  is  noteworthy  in  view  of  the 
exceptionally  good  culinary  results  obtained.” 

The  quantity  of  each  dish  prepared  was  sufficient  to  supply  from 
three  to  six  persons.  The  varieties  of  food  treated  were  bread,  baked 
potatoes,  baked  apples,  beefsteak,  macaroni,  rice  pudding,  roast  chicken, 
mutton  chops,  apple  tapioca,  escalloped  potatoes,  baked  custard,  baked 
haddock,  roast  beef,  bread  pudding,  ham,  gingerbread,  mince  pies, 
rolls,  chowder,  corn  bread,  apple  dumpling,  with  foam  sauce,  baked 
halibut,  grouse,  and  citron  cake. 

Reference  is  made  to  the  particularly  fine  flavor  of  cornbread  and 
fish.  Escalloped  potatoes  were  successfully  made  from  raw  potatoes 
cooked  slowly  in  milk.  The  cracking  point  of  the  animal  fats  was  not 
reached  except  in  the  small  oven,  and  a  little  difficulty  in  the  browning 
is  referred  to.  In  conclusion  Miss  Talbot  says  :  “  The  economy, 
cleanliness,  and  simplicity  of  the  ovens  has  been  amply  demonstrated. 
They  are  certainly  magnum  in  parvo ,  and,  if  it  were  not  for  the  Yankee 
determination  to  have  omnium  in  parvo,  the  claim  might  be  made  that 
they  can  do  all  the  work  that  could  be  fairly  demanded.” 

Many  of  you  will  recall  the  half-hour’s  entertainment  which  I 
attempted  to  give  you  two  or  three  years  since  at  the  house  of  a  late 
valued  friend  and  fellow  member,  when  I  came  to  the  house  clad  in  an 
eight-dollar  suit,  with  my  supper  in  a  small  cooking  box,  and  showed 
how  a  man  could  live  comfortably  and  be  well  nourished  on  an  income 
of  $200  per  year.  I  was  not  myself  entirely  sure  whether  I  was  quite 
serious  in  the  matter,  and  whether  my  cooker  might  not  be  a  mere  play¬ 
thing.  Since  then  I  have  come  to  a  more  certain  conclusion.  I  may 
sometime  prepare,  with  the  aid  of  Professor  Atwater,  a  large  number  of 
scientific  daily  rations  ample  for  a  working-man,  to  cost  from  twenty- 
five  cents  each  per  day  down  to  ten  cents.  At  twenty  cents  an  ample 


348 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


variety  of  nutritious  food  can  be  prepared  in  either  one  of  these  ovens 
by  a  single  man  or  woman  at  as  low  a  relative  cost  as  for  a  large  num¬ 
ber.  The  whole  supply  for  the  day  can  be  cooked  over  the  evening 
lamp,  a  part  to  be  re-heated  for  breakfast  and  dinner  on  the  next  day^ 
without  losing  its  appetizing  quality. 

In  order  to  maintain  my  reputation  as  a  man  of  figures,  I  will  re¬ 
peat  again  the  sum  which  might  be  saved  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States.  The  average  expense  of  a  working-man  in  full  work  is  twenty- 
five  cents  per  day  for  the  materials  of  food  ;  the  measure  of  waste  at  a 
moderate  computation  is  twenty  per  cent.,  or  five  cents  per  day.  This 
includes  the  waste  of  rich  and  poor  alike  ;  of  the  first-class  hotel 
and  of  the  factory  boarding-house.  The  consuming  power  of  the 
United  States  at  the  present  time  is  that  of  over  fifty-two  million 
adults,  counting  two  children  of  ten  or  under  as  one  adult,  and  the 
objective  point  of  my  work  is  to  save  five  cents  a  day  on  fifty-two 
million,  which  would  amount  annually  to  about  one  billion  dollars. 

(In  order  to  save  myself  a  part  of  the  burden  of  correspondence  on 
this  subject,  I  may  venture  to  state  that  circulars  giving  prices  and 
direction  for  the  use  of  the  Aladdin  Cooker  and  Oven  can  be  had 
on  application  to  Kenrick  Brothers,  Brookline,  Mass.) 


A  SINGLE  TAX  ON  LAND 


A  SINGLE  TAX  ON  LAND. 


THIS  proposition,  which  has  been  sustained  with  so  much  sincerity 
and  ability  by  Mr.  Henry  George  and  his  coadjutors,  for  the  col¬ 
lection  of  all  public  revenue,  both  for  national,  State,  and  mu¬ 
nicipal  purposes,  by  a  single  tax  to  be  imposed  upon  the  valuation 
of  land,  has  attained  a  strong  hold  upon  the  minds  of  a  considerable 
number  of  able  and  sensible  men.  Many  of  them  are,  however,  per¬ 
sons  who  can  hardly  claim  to  have  given  much  attention  to  the  problem 
of  taxation  before  this  theory  had  been  brought  to  their  attention. 
This  theory  is  apparently  so  simple,  and  would  seem  to  be  so  effective 
in  practice,  that  it  appeals  to  the  imagination,  but  it  may  not  stand  the 
test  either  of  history  or  of  logical  analysis. 

This  plan  is  not  new  ;  it  originated  with  the  school  of  economists 
known  as  the  Physiocrats  of  France,  whose  principal  exponent  was 
Quesnay,  and  whose  theory  in  respect  to  land  as  the  source  of  all  value, 
and  therefore  a  right  subject  for  all  taxation,  was  substantially  brought 
into  public  notice  by  Turgot,  the  great  finance  minister  of  Louis  XVI., 
whose  fall  preceded  the  French  Revolution  ;  it  opened  the  way  for 
some  of  the  final  abuses  of  power  which  led  up  to  that  great  event 
which  has  worked  so  much  both  of  evil  and  of  good  to  humanity. 

Turgot’s  theory,  which  Henry  George  now  sustains  in  respect  to 
land,  continued  to  exert  great  influence  after  his  fall,  and  greatly 
affected  the  legislation  of  the  Republic,  leading  to  some  of  the  worst  of 
the  financial  disasters  of  that  period.  Reference  may  be  made  to  Leon 
Say’s  “  Life  of  Turgot  ”  and  Blanqui’s  “  History  of  Political  Economy  ’* 
for  the  records. 

The  consideration  of  this  theory  of  taxation  has  been  rendered 
more  difficult  at  the  present  time  by  the  manner  in  which  it  has  been, 
presented  as  a  cure  for  poverty.  Doubtless  poverty  may  be  aggravated, 
or  in  some  special  cases  it  may  be  caused  by  a  bad  method  of  taxation, 
but  he  who  expects  poverty  to  be  cured  by  the  organization  of  Anti- 
Poverty  Societies,  coupled  with  a  change  in  the  method  of  taxation  and 
a  change  in  the  conditional  possession  of  land  under  the  laws  of  the 
State,  must  inevitably  be  disappointed. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  follow  the  somewhat  vague  conceptions  and 
the  tortuous  reasoning  of  the  supporters  of  the  single-tax  theory,  and 

35i 


35  2  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 

they  frequently  object  that  what  they  intend  to  do  is  not  comprehended. 

If  they  would  present  a  legislative  act  for  carrying  the  single  tax  into 
effect,  these  alleged  misconceptions  would  disappear.  Their  prime 
object  appears  to  be  to  force  land  into  wider  distribution  by  the  weight 
of  taxation,  and  at  the  same  time  to  relieve  the  people  from  a  part  of 
the  weight  of  taxation  by  putting  all  taxes  upon  land  or  upon  what  they 
call  the  site  value  of  land.  This  sounds  a  little  like  adding  to  the  bur¬ 
den  in  order  to  lighten  the  weight,  but  it  may  De  admitted  that  some 
heavy  loads  can  be  borne  when  rightlv  distributed  better  than  lighter 
loads  can  be  when  concentrated  in  the  wrong  place.  If.  however,  ail 
people  possess  all  land  under  the  new  conditions  of  possession  sug¬ 
gested  by  Mr.  George  and  his  coadjutors,  then  all  people  who  possess 
the  land  must  contribute  their  portion  of  all  taxes.  But  taxes  cannot 
be  derived  from  land  without  work.  Raw  land  may  support  a  vagrant 
and  sparse  population  of  hunters  or  shepherds,  but  true  civilization 
could  have  no  existence  until  land  began  to  be  fenced  in  and  held  in 
possession,  because  the  product  of  the  soil  necessary  to  subsistence  is 
a  product  of  work,  and  land  must  be  fenced  in  and  occupied  in  order 
that  it  can  be  worked,  and  must  be  permanently  possessed  in  order  that 
it  may  continue  to  be  productively  worked. 

Taxation  means  work  ;  the  method  of  taxation  is  only  a  method  of 
distributing  the  products  of  work.  This  work  may  be  work  of  the 
head,  of  the  hand,  or  of  the  machine,  or  of  all  combined.  It  is  meas¬ 
ured  when  in  the  process  of  distribution  in  terms  of  money,  but  the  . 
money  itself  stands  for  work  or  is  derived  from  work.  Wages,  profits, 
salaries,  rents,  and  also  taxes  are  alike  derived  from  the  annual  product 
of  the  four  seasons,  constituting  the  result  of  a  year’s  work  of  the 
whole  community.  In  this  respect  it  matters  not  where  the  tax  may  be 
imposed  in  the  first  instance,  somebody  must  work  in  order  that  the 
products  may  be  brought  forth  from  the  mine,  the  forest,  the  field,  or 
the  factory,  of  which  the  tax  constitutes  a  part.  The  work  of  govern¬ 
ment  is  as  much  a  part  of  the  work  of  the  community  as  any  other.  In 
this  work  men,  women,  and  boys  are  employed,  from  the  President  of 
the  nation  to  the  page  in  the  House  of  Congress,  including  all  the 
officials  in  the  custom-houses,  courts,  post-offices,  and  the  like.  These 
public  servants  must  be  supplied  with  shelter,  food,  and  clothing,  and 
in  order  to  supply  them  others  must  work  in  the  production  of  build¬ 
ings,  grain,  meat,  fibres,  and  factories,  from  which  the  taxes  are  paid. 
In  the  city  the  mayor,  the  common  council,  the  firemen,  the  police,  and 
the  women  who  scrub  the  floors  of  the  public  buildings  must  be  sup¬ 
plied  with  shelter,  food,  and  clothing,  and  those  who  pay  the  city  taxes 
do  the  work  which  is  necessary  to  furnish  this  supply.  The  main 
question  at  issue  must  therefore  be  limited  to  one  principal  point.  At 
what  point,  on  what  product,  in  what  place,  on  what  subject,  or  on 


353 


A  Single  Tax  on  Land. 

o 

what  process  of  work,  mental,  mechanical,  or  manual,  that  can  be  taxed, 
ought  the  taxes  to  be  placed  in  the  first  instance  ?  How  can  the  taxes 
be  imposed  so  that  the  money  shall  be  secured  with  the  least  injurious 
effect  upon  the  occupations  of  the  people,  and  so  that  the  burden  of 
taxation  shall  be  most  equitably  distributed  among  those  who  must  do 
the  work,  mental,  manual,  or  mechanical,  from  the  product  of  which 
these  taxes  are  derived  ?  How  shall  taxes  be  assessed  so  as  to  be  in 
proportion  to  the  ability  of  those  upon  whom  they  fall  in  the  first 
instance  to  pay  them  ?  When  this  view  of  taxation  as  a  mode  of  work 
is  presented,  a  wide  field  is  opened  for  the  choice  of  subjects  for 
taxation. 

As  nearly  as  the.  figures  of  our  national  and  State  accounts  enable 
us  to  make  a  computation,  the  sum  of  all  our  taxes — national,  State,  and 
municipal — comes  to  about  six  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  our  annual 
product  in  a  normal  year,  this  annual  product  being  valued  at  the  point 
of  ultimate  consumption  ;  conversely,  six  per  cent,  of  all  our  work,  or 
about  that  percentage,  is  and  must  be  devoted  to  the  support  of  gov¬ 
ernment,  since  the  value  of  the  annual  product  is  the  measure  in  money 
of  the  work  that  has  been  done  by  the  whole  community  of  which  the 
work  of  government  is  a  part. 

It  will  doubtless  be  admitted  by  all  competent  persons  that  the 
taxes  should  be  imposed  so  as  not  to  impair  the  productive  power  of  the 
community  as  a  whole.  In  what  does  this  productive  power  consist  ? 
May  it  not  be  held  that  it  is  divided  into  three  parts,  representing  dif¬ 
ferent  directions  of  mental,  mechanical,  or  manual  force? 

Does  it  not  consist,  first ,  in  mental  capacity  ;  that  is  to  say,  in  the 
■capacity  of  those  who  by  way  of  invention,  by  the  application  of 
science,  or  in  some  other  way  of  applying  the  work  of  the  head  rather 
than  the  hand  to  the  conduct  of  the  work  of  society — save  the  com¬ 
munity  a  large  part  of  the  mechanical  work  and  manual  work  which 
had  been  necessary,  or  which  would  otherwise  be  necessary  were  it  not 
for  the  application  of  this  mental  factor  in  production  ?  Is  not  the 
mind  of  man  the  prime  motor  in  all  material  production  ? 

Does  it  not  consist,  second,  in  the  direction  or  application  of  the 
natural  or  mechanical  forces  either  in  the  primary,  secondary,  or  sub¬ 
sequent  processes  of  material  production  under  the  control  of  skilled 
workmen,  tending  to  the  saving  of  a  great  part  of  the  manual  work  or 
labor  previously  required  ?  As  the  mind  of  man  is  the  prime  factor,  is 
not  skill  the  equally  necessary  secondary  factor  ? 

Is  not  the  third  application  of  force  that  of  mere  manual  labor  or 
work  of  the  muscle  rather  than  that  of  the  mind  to  the  primary  and 
crude  processes  of  production  ? 

If  these  three  phases  of  productive  energy  be  considered  in  ratio  to 

their  relative  effect  upon  the  joint  product,  does  it  not  become  evident 
23 


354 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


at  once  that  those  who  occupy  the  third  position  or  lowest  plane,  al¬ 
though  most  numerous,  will  be  capable  of  producing  the  least  quan¬ 
tity  of  exchangeable  products  in  ratio  to  the  quantity  of  work,  labor,  or 
time  which  each  may  devote  to  a  specific  branch  of  industry  ?  Is  it  not 
also  evident  that  those  who  are  in  the  second  and  third  classes,  or  in 
the  various  gradations  by  which  one  class  merges  into  the  other,  may 
obtain  results  or  products  of  greater  and  greater  value  somewhat  in 
inverse  proportion  to  the  mere  manual  or  physical  effort  or  to  the  time 
which  each  may  devote  to  his  respective  branch  of  work  ?  Does  it  not 
follow  that  those  who  are  capable  of  taking  position  in  the  higher 
planes  may  in  a  few  hours’  work  produce  vastly  more  than  is  required 
for  their  own  subsistence,  while  those  in  the  lowest  plane  ma)^  only  be 
capable  in  long  hours  of  work  of  producing  enough  for  a  bare  subsist¬ 
ence?  If  then,  heavy  taxes  should  be  imposed  upon  those  who  occupy 
the  lowest  plane,  taking  from  them  by  taxation  a  part  of  that  meagre 
product  which  is  necessary  even  to  their  bare  subsistence,  that  system 
of  taxation  might  reduce  them  from  poverty  to  pauperism. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  the  same  amount  of  taxation  should  be  im¬ 
posed,  in  the  first  instance,  upon  those  who  are  in  the  higher  planes,  all 
of  whom  produce  much  more  than  is  necessary  for  their  own  subsist¬ 
ence,  may  not  such  taxes  only  take  from  them  a  small  part  of  that 
which  they  can  spare  without  in  any  way  affecting  their  productive 
ability  or  diminishing  their  necessary  consumption,  either  of  their  own 
products  or  what  their  own  products  can  be  exchanged  for  ?  Does  it  not 
then  follow  that  taxes  should  be  imposed  as  nearly  as  may  be  in  ratio  to 
the  productive  capacity  of  those  upon  whom  the  taxes  are  assessed, 
sparing  as  much  as  possible  those  whose  productive  capacity  barely 
suffices  for  their  own  support  or  taking  from  them  by  way  of  taxation 
only  such  products  as  are  not  necessary  to  subsistence  but  are  more  or 
less  of  voluntary  use,  such  as  whiskey,  tobacco,  and  beer  ? 

There  is  no  charity  in  such  a  view  of  taxation  ;  it  is  consistent  with 
the  keenest  business  sagacity.  The  burden  upon  the  members  of  the 
community  who  can  pay  and  who  must  pay  will  be  greatly  increased  if 
taxes  are  so  imposed  that  those  who  have  been  poor  but  yet  have  been 
self-sustaining,  should  be  forced  to  become  paupers  either  by  heavy 
taxes  on  the  necessaries  of  life  or  on  the  land  of  which  all  must  occupy 
a  part. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  there  can  be  no  great  elasticity  in  that 
part  of  our  taxation  which  is  absolutely  required  to  meet  the  necessary 
expenses  of  the  government.  It  varies  with  the  duties  or  functions 
imposed  upon  the  government.  I  have  said  that  our  present  taxes  come 
to  about  six  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  our  entire  product,  but  there  is 
no  absolute  basis  for  this  computation.  In  1880,  I  think,  the  rate  was 
considerably  higher.  There  is,  however,  a  certain  sum,  whatever  it 


A  Single  Tax  on  Land . 


355 


may  be,  that  must  be  devoted  to  the  support  of  the  government  every 
year,  even  though  the  product  of  one  year  may  vary  very  greatly  from 
another.  It  has  been  very  truly  said  that  “  there  is  nothing  sure  but 
death  and  taxes.”  Now  if  some  persons  produce  much  more  than 
they  can  consume,  while  others  produce  barely  enough,  then  it  follows 
that  if  the  assessment  of  the  necessary  sum  of  taxation  is  not  put  in 
the  first  instance  upon  those  whose  productive  capacity  is  the  greatest, 
then  it  must  fall  upon  those  whose  productive  capacity  is  the  least : 
this  view  leads  again  to  the  expediency  of  putting  the  taxes  where 
they  can  be  most  easily  collected  without  injury  to  productive  capacity  ; 
that  is,  upon  those  classes  who  possess  the  greatest  productive  capacity 
either  in  the  possession  or  use  of  land  ;  in  the  possession  or  use  of 
capital ;  or  in  the  mental  power  or  skill  which  enables  them  to  render 
large  services  for  which  they  may  receive  large  compensation.  In 
this  view  of  the  matter,  an  income-tax  would  be  the  surest  measure  of 
the  productive  capacity  either  of  the  man  himself,  or  of  the  land,  capi¬ 
tal,  or  skill  with  which  he  may  be  endowed,  consequently  an  income- 
tax  might  be  the  ideal  tax,  were  it  not  for  certain  practical  difficulties 
which  forbid  it  being  the  chief  source  of  revenue.  A  succession-tax 
— that  is  to  say,  a  tax  levied  upon  bequests  of  property — might  also 
be  one  of  the  most  feasible  and  judicious  sources  of  revenue,  and  why 
such  a  tax  has  not  been  more  deeply  considered  and  more  commonly 
adopted  in  this  country,  is  one  of  the  difficult  questions  to  answer. 

On  the  other  hand,  may  not  a  tax  limited  wholly  to  land  valuation 
be  as  far  removed  from  a  tax  assessed  in  proportion  to  the  productive 
capacity  of  a  community  as  can  well  be  conceived  ?  Raw  land  of 
itself  produces  nothing  more  than  might  suffice  for  the  support  of  a 
vagrant  population  of  hunters  or  shepherds.  The  productive  capacity 
of  a  man  is  neither  measured  by  the  land  which  he  owns  or  occupies. 
It  is  measured  by  what  he  can  do  for  other  men  better  than  they  can 
do  it  for  themselves,  whether  by  the  use  of  mind,  muscle,  machinery,  or 
land,  and  by  that  measure  his  income  will  be  greater  or  less.  Neither 
is  a  man  paid  in  proportion  to  the  land  occupied  in  his  work,  nor  for 
the  quantity  of  the  physical  effort  which  he  puts  into  his  work  ;  neither 
is  he  paid  by  others  according  to  his  own  estimate  of  the  service  which 
he  renders  to  them  ;  he  is  paid,  or  he  earns  income  according  to  the 
estimate  of  those  whom  he  serves,  of  the  labor  or  work  which  he  saves 
them  from  doing,  which  they  would  otherwise  be  obliged  to  do  for 
themselves  if  they  tried  to  serve  themselves  in  the  same  way.  A  man’s 
income  is  therefore  measured  by  his  capacity  to  save  other  people  a 
part  of  the  struggle  for  existence,  and  since  there  is  no  compulsory  ser¬ 
vice  and  no  compulsory  payment  either  of  wages,  profits,  or  rent, 
in  this  country,  each  man  can  be  said  in  the  long  run  to  fix  for  himself 
the  rate  of  his  own  wages,  his  own  earnings,  or  his  own  rents,  by  the 


356  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 

amount  of  capacity  or  capital  which  he  puts  at  the  service  of  those 
who  pay  him  for  the  use  of  his  land,  capital,  head,  or  hands. 

If  then,  we  could  tax  men  exactly  in  proportion  to  their  productive 
ability  or  capacity,  we  might  reach  and  secure  a  share  of  the  annual 
product  of  the  community  in  an  equitable  manner,  while  at  the  same 
time  taxing  it  at  a  point  where  the  tax  would  limit  further  production 
or  draw  upon  the  necessary  subsistence  of  the  community  in  the  least 
measure. 

The  answer  to  this  proposition  by  the  advocates  of  the  single-tax 
system  may  be,  that  a  great  many  men  are  forced  to  devote  a  large 
share  of  their  work,  or  to  pay  others  a  great  deal  of  money  without 
getting  any  adequate  return  from  them,  because  some  men  own  or 
control  the  land  while  others  have  none  ;  it  being  held  by  them  that 
any  payment  of  rent  for  land  is  not  conditioned  upon  service.  It  is 
held  that  men  who  hold  land  under  the  present  conditions  of  posses¬ 
sion  do  not  earn  the  rent  upon  land,  and  that  rent  is  paid  simply 
because  some  men  own  or  control  the  land  while  others  have  none; 
therefore,  it  is  held  that  rent  may  be  something  that  is  not  rightly  due 
or  that  is  not  equitably  earned. 

At  this  point  the  difference  begins  in  respect  to  the  true  source  of 
production  from  land  which  must  control  the  true  science  of  taxation. 
It  will  be  admitted  that  all  material  productions  are  derived  in  the 
first  instance  from  the  land,  the  forest  or  the  mine,  with  the  slight 
exception  of  products  gathered  from  the  sea.  The  sea  is  not  divided 
or  owned  to  any  great  extent, — only  the  waters  near  the  shore.  All  are 
free  to  derive  their  food  from  the  sea  outside  a  narrow  shore  line,  if 
they  choose  to  do  so.  Land  is,  however,  the  main  source  of  crude 
products  ;  but  these  crude  products  must  be  converted  and  re-con¬ 
verted  and  must  be  wholly  changed  from  their  primary  form  before 
they  are  ready  for  ultimate  consumption.  More  value  can  be,  and  is, 
added  to  these  crude  products  by  those  who  do  not  work  directly 
upon  the  land  than  by  those  who* work  directly  upon  it  in  the  primary 
processes.  Therefore  land  must  be  considered  as  of  the  same  nature 
as  all  other  instruments  of  production,  effective  only  in  ratio  to  the 
work  put  into  or  upon  it. 

There  is  a  fallacy  even  in  attributing  all  crude  products  to  land 
only.  Land  soon  fails  in  its  inherent  properties  or  power  of  primary 
production  and  will  in  a  very  short  term  of  years  fail  to  sustain  any 
considerable  population.  It  will  only  yield  a  permanent  product  in 
ratio  to  what  is  put  into  it.  What  is  put  into  it  is  capital  and  this  cap¬ 
ital  is  applied  with  more  or  less  labor.  Capital  in  a  material  form  is  a 
product  of  past  labor  saved  and  converted  to  reproductive  use  by  the 
service  of  those  who  do  the  present  work.  Land,  labor,  and  capital 
must  therefore  of.  necessity  cooperate  in  order  that  either  may  be  of 


357 


A  Single  7 ax  on  Land. 

adequate  service  in  the  subsistence  of  mankind.  Both  land  and  capital 
are  inert  without  the  service  of  labor,  and  labor  is  also  incapable  of 
abundant  product  without  capital  or  land.  A  tax  upon  land  which 
might  restrict  its  use  or  upon  capital  which  might  impair  it  in  amount 
and  render  its  service  less  effectual,  would  therefore  ultimately  fall 
most  oppressively  upon  labor  which  cannot  wait.  In  respect  to  rents 
it  is  admitted  that  the  money  that  is  derived  from  the  sale  of  the 
crude  products  of  the  forest,  the  soil,  and  the  mine,  is  divided  among 
those  who  do  the  actual  work  and  those  who  own  or  hold  conditional 
possession  of  the  soil,  the  forest,  and  the  mine  under  existing  laws. 
This  share  which  those  who  possess  the  land  now  receive  in  the  form 
of  rent  is  what  is  aimed  at  by  the  advocates  of  the  single-tax  system 
upon  the  theory  that  private  rent  can  be  converted  into  public  taxes. 
It  is  held  by  them  that  if  this  rent  could  be  secured  by  taxation  under 
the  new  system  of  the  conditional  possession  of  land  proposed  by  Mr. 
George  and  his  associates,  then  this  rent  would  suffice  to  meet  all  the 
expenses  of  government,  and  that  those  who  now  subsist  upon  these 
rents  would  then  be  compelled  to  go  to  work  for  their  living,  if  they  were 
not  already  working.  That  is  to  say,  they  hold  that  if  rents  or  rental 
value  could  be  diverted  from  private  to  public  use,  the  burden  of  tax¬ 
ation  which  would  become  a  substitute  for  the  burden  of  rent  would 
be  so  much  derived  directly  from  land  and  that  it  could  not  be  distrib¬ 
uted  ;  therefore  it  is  affirmed  that  those  who  now  subsist  upon  rent 
would  be  obliged  to  work,  and  those  who  now  pay  the  rent  and  taxes 
would  save  one  or  the  other,  and  would  have  more  leisure  and  more 
to  spend  upon  themselves  for  other  purposes. 

When  the  subject  is  presented  in  this  way  the  main  questions  are 
at  once  brought  out : 

ist.  Does  land  produce  any  product  available  for  rent  or  taxes 
without  work  ? 

2d.  Are  land  and  labor  in  the  limited  sense  in  which  the  word 
labor  is  commonly  used  to  designate  the  manual,  mechanical  work  of 
the  person  who  applies  physical  force  or  manual  labor  directly  upon 
the  land,  the  only  factors  in  the  primary  production  of  the  crude  prod¬ 
ucts  of  the  soil  ? 

Or,  in  other  words,  if  all  land  were  either  held  in  common  or  in 
severalty,  free  from  private  possession  and  free  from  rent  but  subject 
to  a  single  tax,  would  labor  when  in  possession  of  land  but  without 
capital  be  capable  of  sustaining  a  community?  The  advocates  of 
the  single-tax  system,  and  Mr.  George  himself  would  immediately 
answer  this  question  in  the  negative.  They  admit  that  the  possession 
of  land  and  the  application  of  capital  to  it  by  private  persons  under 
certain  conditions  established  by  law,  are  an  absolute  necessity  to 
abundant  production,  and  that  both  capital  and  labor  must  be 


358  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 

applied  to  land  and  are  therefore  necessary  even  to  the  collection 
of  the  single  tax  which  may  be  put  upon  land.  What  is  the  limit 
of  the  production  from  land  unless  capital  is  applied  to  it  ?  It  needs 
but  a  moment’s  reflection  to  prove  that  land  and  labor  without  capi¬ 
tal  would  be  wholly  incapable  of  sustaining  a  civilized  community  ; 
it  matters  not  whether  the  capital  be  only  a  rude  hoe  or  a  pointed 
stick  with  a  handle  to  it,  to  be  used  for  a  plow  ;  or  a  steam  plow  and  a 
self-binding  reaper.  Some  kind  of  capital  must  be  placed  at  the 
service  of  man,  or  else  the  laborer  himself  could  barely  subsist  even 
on  the  best  land.  Has  it  not  been  proved  conclusively  by  experience 
that  in  proportion  to  the  quantity  and  effectiveness  of  the  capital 
applied  to  land  is  the  quantity  of  labor  diminished  and  the  quantity 
of  product  increased  ?  Is  it  not  also  true  that  as  the  quantity  of  crude 
products  derived  from  the  soil  is  increased  by  the  application  of  capital 
and  the  adoption  of  improved  machinery,  the  more  abundant  produc¬ 
tion  gives  the  workman  of  the  present  day  a  wider  opportunity  and  a 
better  subsistence  in  the  struggle  for  existence  than  he  ever  had 
before  ? 

Again,  if  land  without  capital  is  almost  useless  and  incapable  of 
production,  then  a  tax  on  productive  land  is  undoubtedly  a  tax  on  the 
capital  and  labor  applied  to  it. 

The  contention  of  Henry  George  and  his  coadjutors  is,  that  since 
production  comes  in  the  first  instance  from  land,  all  people  should  have 
some  share  in  all  land  ;  but  since  land  and  labor  by  themselves  are 
incapable  of  abundant  production  without  capital,  does  it  not  follow  of 
necessity  that  all  who  have  a  share  in  all  land  must  of  necessity  also 
have  some  share  in  all  capital  ?  Otherwise  of  what  use  would  the  land 
be  to  them  ?  What  is  this  but  Socialism  or  Communism  if  brought 
into  effect  by  legislation  ? 

Conversely,  does  it  not  follow  that  if  private  property  in  capital  or 
in  things  already  produced  from  the  soil,  the  mine  or  the  forest,  is 
admitted  to  be  necessary  to  the  use  of  land,  then  private  property  in 
land  under  similar  conditions  must  also  be  admitted  to  be  necessary  to 
the  use  of  capital  upon  it  ;  first ,  in  order  that  -there  may  be  an  abun¬ 
dant  product,  yielding  a  surplus  to  be  saved  for  conversion  into  capital, 
and  second ,  in  order  that  this  capital  may  be  applied  to  reproductive 
purposes  upon  the  land  ? 

The  institution  of  private  property  in  land  and  things  has  been 
developed  not  only  because  it  is  necessary  to  the  subsistence  of  those 
who  own  the  land  and  capital,  but  in  order  to  make  it  possible  that  the 
laborer  should  exist  at  all.  The  term  own  is  relative  ;  there  is  no  abso¬ 
lute  private  property  or  ownership  either  in  land  or  capital  ;  both  are 
held  in  conditional  possession  subject  to  all  that  is  implied  in  the 
oower  of  the  State  to  exert  its  right  of  eminent  domain.  All  that 


359 


A  Single  Tax  on  Land. 

Henry  George  and  his  associates  have  as  yet  proposed  is  a  change  in 
the  terms  of  the  conditional  possession  of  land  ;  they  have  not  sug¬ 
gested  Communism  or  Socialism,  although  their  theory  might  lead  to 
that  conclusion  if  carried  into  effect. 

If  there  is  any  truth  in  the  considerations  which  have  been  pre¬ 
sented,  the  proposal  to  secure  all  public  revenues  from  a  single  tax  on 
land  does  not  rest  upon  any  abstract  principle  of  right.  In  fact  it 
would  be  difficult  to  prove  that  any  fundamental  principle  of  taxation 
has  yet  been  established  which  can  be  said  to  form  part  of  a  science 
which  can  be  applied  in  all  times  and  all  places,  and  to  all  conditions 
alike.  In  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge  it  is  almost  a  necessity 
that  the  method  of  taxation  should  be  treated  almost  wholly  as  a 
question  of  expediency,  and  on  general  principles  it  is  not  expedient  to 
put  a  tax  where  it  will  obstruct  production. 

It  is  therefore  in  the  first  place  expedient  to  consider  the  conditions 
under  which  capital  may  be  voluntarily  applied  to  land,  since  no  com¬ 
pulsion  is  possible  in  the  nature  of  the  case. 

With  respect  to  farm  land,  no  one  will  improve,  fence,  or  drain  it,  or 
erect  farm  buildings,  unless  he  can  obtain  permanent  possession  under 
some  sort  of  title  of  an  individual  kind,  such  as  would  warrant  him  in 
exerting  his  labor  and  expending  his  capital  with  a  view  to  future 
results.  What  is  the  present  cause  of  the  poverty  of  the  agricultural 
laborer  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  except  that  he  has  been  debarred 
from  the  possession  of  land  under  permanent  conditions,  either  by 
custom  or  by  a  bad  system  of  land  tenure  ? 

Again,  will  any  man  construct  an  expensive  building  upon  a  city  lot 
or  a  costly  factory  by  the  side  of  a  stream,  unless  he  can  be  sure  of  the 
permanent  possession  of  the  land  on  which  he  invests  his  capital  ?  If 
land  is  not  improved,  that  is,  if  capital  is  not  applied  to  its  improve¬ 
ment,  its  quality  cannot  be  maintained  and  erelong  it  will  cease 
to  yield  any  adequate  return  to  the  labor  which  is  put  upon  it.  When 
it  ceases  to  yield  any  adequate  product  will  it  not  then  cease  to  bear 
any  valuation  upon  which  the  taxes  can  be  assessed  ?  Could  it  then  be 
assessed  at  a  rental  value  or  a  site  value,  or  could  the  taxes  be  col¬ 
lected  if  the  product  failed  to  yield  any  thing  above  a  meagre  subsistence 
to  the  squatters  upon  it  ?  Does  it  not  then  follow  that  land  is  a  mere 

v 

instrument  or  tool  of  production,  and  that  it  cannot  be  made  a  possible 
source  of  rent  or  taxes,  except  in  proportion,  not  to  the  labor  or 
capital,  but  to  the  labor  and  capital  which  may  be  applied  to  its  culti¬ 
vation  and  use  ? 

A  city  lot  possesses  even  less  inherent  value  than  a  farm  ;  a  farm 
may  possibly  yield  something  for  the  subsistence  of  labor  even  without 
capital,  but  a  city  lot  from  which  the  loam  has  been  taken  and  which  is 
hardly  big  enough  to  feed  a  rabbit  upon  if  planted  in  clover,  can 


36° 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


produce  neither  rent,  profit,  nor  income,  except  in  proportion  to 
the  capital  which  may  be  expended  upon  it. 

True,  both  farms  and  city  lots  maybe  the  subject  of  purchase  or  sale, 
but  the  price  that  is  paid  is  not  paid  for  any  permanent  value  or  any 
inherent  power  in  the  land  simply  as  land  to  yield  either  rent  or  taxes  ; 
it  is  paid  for  the  choice  of  position.  The  capitalist  will  pay  a  high  price 
for  a  city  lot  in  order  to  have  an  opportunity  to  put  expensive  buildings 
upon  it  which  may  be  used  as  instrumentalities  either  of  production  or 
distribution.  The  capitalist  who  pays  the  highest  price  for  the  choice  of 
the  highest-priced  city  lots  does  so  because  at  that  place  the  commu¬ 
nity  can  be  served  at  the  least  cost — for  the  reason  that  these  lots  are 
in  the  most  convenient  situation  for  the  community  to  reach  in  order  to 
buy  their  goods.  The  price  is  paid  for  the  choice  of  land. 

It  will  be  alleged  in  rejoinder  that  the  high  price  which  may  be  paid 
for  the  choice  of  position  is  due  to  the  growth  of  society,  and  that  any 
gain  which  one  may  make  by  holding  these  lots  until  society  settles 
around  them  is  the  so-called  “  unearned  increment.”  It  is  admitted 
that  it  sometimes  happens  that  a  man  who  holds  a  vacant  lot  for  a  long 
period  may  secure  a  large  profit,  and  the  profit  which  he  derives  is  not 
due  to  any  work  which  he  himself  puts  into  the  lot,  but  to  the  growth 
of  society  about  it.  This  “  unearned  increment  ”  has  been  greatly 
exaggerated,  and  is  very  largely  a  matter  of  the  imagination  ;  but 
whether  it  is  or  not,  it  is  evident  that  if  the  possessor  under  the  present 
condition  of  our  laws  has  no  right  to  any  sum  this  “  unearned  incre¬ 
ment  ”  may  produce,  then  he  has  no  right  to  secure  a  profit  on  any  thing 
due  to  the  lapse  of  time.  There  is  no  difference  between  this  “  un-. 
earned  increment  ”  upon  a  city  lot  or  farm  and  the  “  unearned  incre¬ 
ment  ”  On  a  share  of  railroad  or  of  factory  stock,  or  a  ton  of  wheat,  or 
any  other  product  of  the  land.  A  man  who  buys  a  share  in  an  unfin¬ 
ished  railway,  and  keeps  it  until  the  growth  of  towns  along  the  line 
raises  the  price  of  the  stock,  has  as  much  right  to  that  advance  in  price, 
and  no  more,  than  the  man  who  had  the  foresight  to  buy  a  city  lot  at 
.the  risk  that  even  interest  and  the  present  taxes  might  deprive  him  of 
any  ultimate  profit.  Men  often  build  factories  in  advance  of  the  de¬ 
mand  ;  presently  the  growth  of  the  population  increases  the  demand 
for  the  fabrics  ;  then  follows  a  rise  in  the  price,  due  either  to  greater 
consumption  or  to  the  increase  of  population.  Has  he  no  right  to  the 
increased  value  of  the  goods  made  in  the  factory,  because  i4  is  due  to 
the  increase  in  population  ?  Or  a  man  buys  at  a  low  price  a  lot 
of  wheat,  foreseeing  or  hoping  to  get  a  higher  price  in  the  future  ;  if 
he  is  wrong  there  is  an  unrequited  decrement  which  society  has  not 
yet  proposed  to  take  upon  itself  ;  if  he  is  right  in  his  exercise  of  his 
own  judgment  and  foresight  he  gains  ;  to  whom  does  that  gain  be¬ 
long  ? 


A  Single  Tax  on  Land. 


361 

If,  then,  land  is  like  every  other  tool  or  instrument  of  production, 
in  being  capable  of  yielding  product  only  in  ratio  to  the  labor  and  cap¬ 
ital  applied  to  it,  it  must  be  considered  like  any  other  instrument  of 
production  as  only  one  of  the  sources  of  the  annual  product  to  which 
value  is  imparted  in  the  process  of  exchange  by  the  joint  work  of  all 
who  take  any  part  either  in  production  or  distribution,  whether  they 
be  laborers  or  capitalists. 

If  this  be  admitted,  it  then  becomes  expedient  to  explore  the  sub¬ 
ject  a  little  further  and  to  find  out  what  part  of  the  ultimate  value  of 
all  products  has  been  derived  from  land  considered  as  the  source  of 
primary  production.  Of  course  it  will  be  admitted  that  there  can  be 
no  material  work  done  except  by  men  who  plant  their  feet  upon  the 
soil  somewhere.  Every  man  must  have  a  position  on  the  soil  some¬ 
where,  whereon  to  rest  the  lever  with  which  he  moves  the  natural  forces 
towards  the  subsistence  of  man  ;  but  the  contribution  of  the  different 
classes  of  men  to  the  ultimate  value  of  the  annual  product  at  the  point 
of  final  consumption  may  almost  be  held  to  be  in  inverse  proportion  to 
the  quantity  of  land  occupied.  For  instance,  it  requires  from  six  to 
eight  thousand  acres  of  land  and  about  one  thousand  laborers  to  pro¬ 
duce  about  five  thousand  bales  of  cotton  in  a  season,  at  the  present 
meagre  proportion  of  product  per  hand  and  per  acre.  But  that  five 
thousand  bales  of  cotton  may  be  doubled  or  trebled  in  value,  and  brought 
from  the  crude  condition  in  which  it  is  unfit  for  use  into  the  finished 
fabric  suitable  for  clothing,  in  a  factory  which  covers  but  a  fraction  of 
an  acre  of  land. 

Again,  a  man  may  be  occupying  an  attic  ten  feet  square  in  the  upper 
story  of  a  city  building,  by  whose  work  the  future  capacity  of  that  fac¬ 
tory  may  be  doubled.  It  is  not  many  years  since  I  paid  a  visit  to  such 
a  man,  working  in  a  miserable  attic  in  a  cheap  city  building,  by  whose 
invention  the  productive  capacity  of  every  boot-maker  in  New  Eng¬ 
land  was  more  than  doubled.  He  was  the  first  inventor  of  sewing- 
machines  in  which  a  waxed  thread  could  be  used. 

A  part  of  what  the  government  needs,  and  must  secure  by  way 
of  taxation,  may  be  six  per  cent,  of  the  cotton  fabrics  made  in  the 
factory,  such  fabrics  to  be  used  in  clothing  the  government  employes. 
The  science  of  taxation  will  therefore  consist  either  in  putting  a  tax 
upon  the  field  where  the  cotton  is  raised  or  on  the  site  where  the  factory 
is  built,  i.  e .,  on  the  land  applied  to  cotton  and  cotton  fabrics.  This  is 
the  policy  advocated  by  Mr.  George  and  his  coadjutors  ;  otherwise  a 
tax  may  be  put  upon  the  goods  delivered  from  the  factory,  or  on  the 
.  cotton  in  the  bale,  or  on  the  warehouses  where  the  goods  are  stored  or 
from  whence  they  are  distributed,  or  on  the  railways  that  move  both  cot¬ 
ton  and  goods,  or  upon  the  property  and  incomes  of  the  owners  of  field 
and  factory  and  railway.  Another  way  to  secure  money  for  the  govern- 


362 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


ment  is  to  put  up  the  taxes  upon  some  other  products  which  are  con¬ 
sumed  by  those  who  raise  cotton  or  make  cotton  goods,  such  as  whiskey, 
sugar,  tobacco,  beer,  and  silks,  and  fancy  goods,  and  other  articles,  all 
of  which  the  workmen  upon  the  cotton  plantations  and  the  workmen  in 
the  factories  may  or  must  consume.  Another  way  to  secure  the  neces¬ 
sary  revenue  for  the  government  is  to  put  a  tax  for  local  purposes  upon 
the  value  of  the  cotton  plantation,  upon  the  value  of  the  cotton  factory, 
and  upon  the  value  of  the  warehouses  where  the  products  are  distrib¬ 
uted,  according  to  their  respective  place  and  value.  Which  of  these 
taxes  would  be  most  likely  to  obstruct  the  production  of  the  cotton 
farm  or  of  the  cotton  factory  ?  Therein  lies  the  whole  question  of 
equitable  taxation.  At  what  point  and  in  what  place  can  the  national 
and  State  governments  secure  from  the  cotton  industry,  or  from  any 
other  branch  of  production,  that  part  of  the  supply  of  cotton  goods, 
food,  or  other  products  that  the  employes  of  the  government  must  have 
in  order  that  they  may  be  subsisted  ?  When  viewed  in  this  light  it 
becomes  apparent  that  the  productive  capacity  of  those  who  work  upon 
the  cotton  field  barely  suffices  for  their  own  support,  while  the  produc¬ 
tive  capacity  of  those  who  own  or  operate  the  railways  by  which  the 
cotton  bale  is  moved  or  produced  from  the  field  to  the  factory,  stiffices 
for  the  support  of  the  railway  owners,  railway  employes,  and  also,  when 
unobstructed  by  meddlesome  statutes,  may  or  does  yield  a  large  sur¬ 
plus  over,  which  may  rightly  be  subjected  to  a  tax.  It  may  appear 
that  the  only  thing  that  can  be  taken  from  the  laborers  on  the  cotton 
fields,  without  injury  to  their  productive  capacity,  may  be  a  part  of  the 
whiskey  and  tobacco  which  they  consume  ;  it  may  be  that  those  who 
work  in  the  factory  barely  earn  a  subsistence,  and  that  what  can  best 
be  spared  by  them  would  be  a  part  of  the  silk,  ribbons,  and  fancy 
goods,  or  the  whiskey,  beer,  and  tobacco  which  they  consume,  if  by 
taxation  these  things  cost  more,  and  are  therefore  consumed  less. 

Lastly,  it  may  appear  that  a  well-conducted  factory  in  which  large 
capital  and  a  small  quantity  of  labor  are  directed  towards  the  produc¬ 
tion  or  conversion  of  cotton  into  cotton  fabrics,  or  of  wheat  into  flour, 
or  of  iron  and  steel  into  machinery, — may  yield  subsistence  to  all  the 
operatives  and  also  furnish  an  income  for  the  owners  more  than  sufficient 
for  their  subsistence.  Therefore  that  property  in  the  cotton  factory  or 
in  the  machine-shop  or  warehouse  might,  as  a  whole ,  and  not  simply 
the  land  only,  be  a  just  and  expedient  subject  for  local  taxation. 

It  may  be  assumed  that  since  the  consumption  of  whiskey,  beer,  and 
tobacco  in  this  country  is  fully  equal  to  the  entire  sum  of  all  taxes,  both 
national,  State,  and  municipal,  it  may  be  both  just  and  expedient  to 
tax  these  articles  which  are  of  voluntary  and  not  necessary  use,  to  the 
fullest  extent,  since  both  workmen,  artisans,  landlords  and  tenants, 
clerks,  and  owners  of  capital,  will  all  be  as  capable  of  productive 


A  Single  Tax  on  Land.  363 

•energy  and  even  more  capable  of  effective  service,  the  less  these 
articles  are  consumed  by  them. 

If  then,  the  productive  capacity  of  man  is,  and  may  be  in  inverse 
proportion  to  the  quantity  of  land  held  or  occupied  by  him,  does  it 
not  follow  that  while  land  may  be  an  expedient  subject  for  a  part  of  the 
taxation  it  may  not  be  rightly  subjected  to  all  taxes  under  the  single¬ 
tax  system,  without  the  danger  of  very  grave  injury  to  the  whole 
people  ?  Moreover,  if  land  were  thus  made  subject  to  a  single  tax 
sufficient  to  meet  the  expenditures,  it  might  be  a  great  injustice  to  col¬ 
lect  this  tax  from  those  who  hold  land  according  to  its  present  value, 
and  if  such  an  attempt  were  made  it  would  probably  limit  or  reduce  the 
conditional  possession  of  the  land  to  a  few  large  capitalists  rather  than 
to  bring  about  a  wider  distribution  of  land  among  the  less  prosperous 
classes. 

Again,  if  the  single-tax  system  is  sound  in  principle,  it  should  of 
course  be  made  the  single  source  of  all  public  revenue, — including  both 
national,  State,  and  municipal  taxes, — and  it  should  then  be  applied  to 
all  land,  farm  land  as  well  as  city  lots.  There  can  be  no  variation  in 
the  application  of  a  principle  of  taxation,  but  when  a  method  of  taxa¬ 
tion  is  treated  upon  the  ground  of  expediency,  a  different  rule  perhaps 
might  be  applied  to  farm  land  and  city  property  ;  into  that  branch  of 
the  subject  there  is  no  reason  to  enter  in  this  treatise. 

If  the  advocates  of  the  single-tax  system  had  been  farmers,  holding 
the  average  amount  of  land  and  working  their  holdings  year  by  year  in 
order  to  gain  a  subsistence  for  their  families  and  to  sell  a  sufficient 
amount  of  the  product  of  their  farms  to  enable  them  to  buy  clothing, 
groceries,  and  to  pay  even  their  present  local  taxes,  the  promoters  of 
this  theory  would  more  fully  comprehend  than  they  do  now  how  diffi¬ 
cult  it  is  for  the  average  farmer  to  set  aside  even  money  enough  to  pay 
the  present  taxes,  which  constitute  only  a  part  of  the  revenues  re¬ 
quired  by  the  State,  county  or  town,  and  which  do  not  include  any  con¬ 
tribution  whatever  to  the  equal  need  of  the  national  government. 
They  might  then  realize  that  the  source  from  which  this  money  is 
derived  is  not  the  land  itself  ;  they  would  then  become  aware  that  the 
product  of  the  land,  especially  in  Massachusetts,  is  not  due  to  any  in¬ 
herent  fertility  in  the  soil,  but  is  due  in  part  to  the  capital  put  into  the 
soil  in  fertilizers  ;  in  part  to  the  capital  applied  to  the  soil  in  machinery 
and  tools,  but  mainly  to  the  very  hard  work  of  the  head  and  labor  of 
the  hands  which  is  put  into  the  processes  of  production  by  the  farmer 
and  his  men  who  drive  the  plows  and  direct  the  motions  of  the  farming 
tools  and  machinery,  to  say  nothing  of  his  wife  and  daughters  who  do  the 
work  of  the  kitchen  or  the  dairy  and  supervise  the  hen-yards.  The 
advocates  of  the  single-tax  system  might  then  become  aware  in  a  prac¬ 
tical  way,  if  they  never  knew  it  before,  that  land  by  itself  has  no  power 


364 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


of  production  and  no  power  of  subsisting  any  one  except  hunters  or 
Digger  Indians  who  live  upon  wild  roots.  They  might  then  discover 
that  a  tax  on  land  must  be  paid  by  work,  and  that  it  would  be  only  a 
tax  on  work  disguised  under  a  specious  fallacy. 

Let  us  suppose,  however,  that  the  single-tax  system  had  been 
adopted,  and  that  the  farmer  must  pay  by  a  single  tax  on  land  not  only 
the  taxes  now  assessed  upon  his  farm  and  buildings,  which  now  in  part 
support  the  local  government,  but  also  all  the  rest  of  the  taxes  for  the 
support  of  the  State  and  municipal  government,  such  as  the  taxes  that 
are  now  assessed  upon  the  railways,  upon  banks,  insurance  companies, 
and  all  other  kinds  of  property — all  of  these  must  then  be  paid  by  the 
land.  The  farmer,  having  then  earned  this  sum  in  addition  to  his  pre¬ 
sent  taxes,  and  set  aside  enough  for  the  county,  State,  or  town,  will  then 
find  out  that  the  requisitions  of  the  national  government  are  as  great  as 
those  of  the  States  and  towns.  He  may  then  discover  that  although 
the  expenses  of  the  national  government  might  be  somewhat  diminished 
yet  even  when  reduced  to  the  lowest  terms  the  amount  of  the  national 
taxes  is  equal  to  the  local  taxes.  The  national  government  now  re¬ 
quires  for  the  civil  department :  1st,  legislative,  executive,  judicial,  and 
foreign  expenditures,  and  for  the  construction  and  maintenance  of 
public  works,  not  less  than  $61,000,000  each  year  ;  2d,  for  the  naval 
establishment,  including  the  construction  of  a  navy,  even  of  a  very 
moderate  and  limited  sort,  not  less  than  $20,000,000  ;  3d,  for  the  mili¬ 
tary  establishment,  including  very  moderate  provision  for  fortifications 
and  public  works  of  that  sort,  not  less  than  $39,000,000  ;  4th,  for  the 
interest  on  the  public  debt,  at  the  present  time  at  least,  $40,000,000, 
therefore  omitting  pensions  and  the  sinking  fund  (and  assuming  what 
is  the  fact  that  all  miscellaneous  expenses  are  met  from  miscellaneous 
permanent  receipts,  such  as  the  sale  of  the  public  lands,  receipts  from 
consular  fees,  and  the  like),  yet  the  necessary  revenues  required  by  the 
national  government  to  meet  the  ordinary  expenses  reduced  to  the  low¬ 
est  terms  would  not  be  less  than  $160,000,000.  In  addition  to  this,  until 
the  public  debt  is  all  paid,  the  requirements  of  the  existing  law  in  respect 
to  the  sinking  fund  increase  rather  than  diminish,  calling  for  not  less 
than  $50,000,000,  while  the  sum  required  for  pensions  is  over  $80,000,- 
000  a  year;  for  current  annual  pensions,  about  $50,000,000;  for  ar¬ 
rears,  about  $30,000,000  ;  the  national  revenue  absolutely  required 
therefore  amounts  to  about  $290,000,000.  Therefore  the  annual  con¬ 
tribution  of  the  people  to  the  support  of  the  government  and  to  the 
debt  and  pensions  must  be  at  least  equal  to  the  sum  now  assessed  upon 
property  for  the  support  of  State  and  municipal  corporations  which 
does  not  exceed  that  sum.  Exact  comparison  cannot  be  made,  because 
the  data  of  local  taxation  are  not  as  perfect  as  they  might  be.  This  abso¬ 
lutely  necessary  expenditure  of  the  national  government  is  now  met  in 


A  Single  Tax  on  Land . 


365 

considerable  part  by  duties  and  internal  taxes  which  are  assessed  upon 
articles  of  more  or  less  voluntary  use,  so  that  any  man  who  does  not 
choose  to  contribute  may,  by  giving  up  the  consumption  of  a  few 
things  which  he  can  do  without  (and  perhaps  be  the  better  for  doing  so), 
put  his  part  of  the  national  expenses  upon  those  who  choose  to  pay 
for  it. 

At  the  present  rate  of  income,  the  national  government  secures  year 
by  year  a  little  over  $100,000,000  from  intoxicants — that  is  from  the 
taxes  or  duties  upon  distilled  spirits,  wines,  and  beer  ;  from  tobacco, 
$40,000,000  ;  from  sugar  and  molasses,  $52,000,000  ;  from  manufactures 
of  silk,  $16,000,000  ;  from  fine  linens,  over  $5,000,000  ;  from  laces,  em¬ 
broideries,  and  fine  fabrics,  which  are  of  the  nature  of  luxuries  rather 
than  necessities,  made  of  cotton  and  worsted,  from  $17,000,000  to  $20- 
000,000  ;  from  furs,  fancy  goods,  fruits,  sardines,  and  other  articles  of 
like  kind,  about  $20,000,000.  The  sum  of  the  national  taxes  imposed 
upon  articles  which  maybe  considered  luxuries,  or  articles  of  voluntary 
use  rather  than  necessities,  comes  to  $250,000,000,  which  contribution, 
is  more  than  sufficient  to  pay  all  the  necessary  expenses  of  the  govern¬ 
ment  and  the  sinking-fund  and  nearly  all  the  current  annual  pensions, 
the  remainder  of  the  pensions  being  collected  from  other  duties  than 
those  enumerated  above.  When  the  debt  and  pensions  are  paid,  the 
government  will  be  able  to  spare  all  the  taxes  now  derived  from  to¬ 
bacco  and  sugar,  and  these  war  taxes  may  rightly  be  abated  when  the 
financial  burden  of  the  war  is  lifted  by  the  payment  of  the  debt  and 
pensions,  if  not  before. 

Now  if  the  question  were  put  to  the  farmer  whether  he  would 
prefer  to  be  assessed  by  a  single  tax  upon  his  land,  or  to  contribute  his 
proportion  by  a  tax  on  his  glass  of  whiskey  or  beer,  even  on  his  sugar 
and  molasses,  or  by  way  of  the  laces  and  ribbons  which  his  wife  and 
daughters  buy  for  their  Sunday  clothes  and  bonnets,  it  is  probable  that 
he  would  not  hesitate  long  in  which  way  to  make  his  contribution  to 
the  national  expenses.  In  fact,  there  are  very  sound  reasons  why  it  is 
expedient  that  the  national  revenue  should  be  in  some  part  collected 
by  indirect  taxation,  and  should  be  imposed  mainly  upon  articles  of  com¬ 
mon  even  though  not  of  necessary  use,  so  that  the  ratio  of  the  national 
taxes  should  be  more  nearly  in  proportion  to  the  population  than  to  the 
valuation  on  property.  This  system  of  indirect  national  taxation,  which 
may  be  paid  about  per  capita ,  may  be  justified,  because  the  function  of 
the  national  government  is  rather  to  give  protection  to  the  people  of 
the  whole  United  States  than  to  the  property  of  the  several  inhabitants 
of  the  particular  States,  which  is  fully  protected  under  State  laws. 
Moreover,  if  the  national  government  elects  by  vote  of  the  people  to 
collect  this  revenue,  and  to  maintain  custom-houses  for  enforcing  this 
system  of  taxation,  this  method  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  true  prin- 


366 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


ciple  of  free  trade,  as  alleged  by  Mr.  Henry  George.  Custom-houses 
may  be  maintained  for  the  single  purpose  of  collecting  the  revenue, 
without  any  conflict  with  the  theory  that  foreign  commerce  should  be 
free  from  taxation  imposed  for  purposes  of  private  gain.  In  fact,  if 
the  government  is  to  collect  any  part  of  its  revenue  by  an  excise  on 
spirits,  beer,  and  tobacco,  it  becomes  absolutely  necessary  to  maintain 
custom-houses  in  order  to  tax  imported  wine,  beer,  and  tobacco  in  the 
same  way.  Hence  even  the  most  bigoted  free  trader  may  justify  custom¬ 
houses  for  the  purpose  of  securing  a  revenue  from  specific  articles. 

Again,  let  it  be  supposed  that  the  taxes  are  to  be  put  on  land, 
including  farm  land,  does  it  not  follow  at  once  that  the  man  who 
possesses  land  and  labor  supplemented  by  insufficient  capital  may 
become  unable  to  get  such  a  product  from  farm  land  as  would  enable 
him  to  subsist  and  pay  his  taxes  ?  What  would  of  necessity  ensue  ? 
Would  it  not  be  that  under  this  system,  land  would  fall  more  and  more 
into  the  possession  of  great  capitalists,  who,  by  the  application  and  use 
of  machinery,  fertilizers,  and  other  improved  methods,  might  be  able 
so  to  increase  the  gross  product  of  a  given  area  of  land  as  to  enable 
them  to  pay  wages  to  those  who  are  now  independent  farmers,  and  in 
addition  to  secure  from  the  land  such  product  as  might  enable  them  to 
meet  the  taxes  ?  This  course  might  perhaps  be  justified  as  the  right 
method  of  getting  the  largest  amount  of  product  from  land  in  ratio 
to  the  labor  put  into  it,  but  the  justification  of  this  course  runs  in 
exectly  the  opposite  way  to  that  upon  which  the  single-tax  system  is 
sustained.  It  would  tend  to  concentrate  the  land  in  the  hands  of  a 
few  capitalists  rather  than  to  increase  the  number  of  small  farmers  or 
of  small  holders  of  land  under  the  new  conditions,  or  to  cause  land  to 
become  more  widely  scattered  among  a  greater  number  of  people.  In 
other  words,  the  small  owners  or  possessors  of  land,  who  may,  by  their 
indomitable  industry,  now  get  a  subsistence  from  it,  and  gradually  be¬ 
come  possessed  of  capital  requisite  for  the  increase  of  its  product,  might 
be  crushed  by  the  additional  burden  of  the  single  tax.  Increase  the  bur¬ 
den  of  taxation  upon  the  small  farmer  and  it  may  happen,  and  it  probably 
would,  that  the  greater  part  of  the  land  would  be  taxed  out  of  his  posses¬ 
sion,  instead  of  the  number  of  independent  farmers  being  increased. 

Again,  if  we  take  city  lots  as  an  example,  and  suppose  them  to  be 
subject  to  the  single-tax  system,  we  are  led  inevitably  to  the  same  con¬ 
clusion,  to  wit  :  that  the  single-tax  system  would  tend  to  concentrate 
the  possession  of  city  lots  or  land  in  very  few  hands,  and  would  ere¬ 
long  convert  all  small  owners  into  tenants — the  very  reverse  of  what 
has  been  aimed  at  by  the  promoters  of  the  system.  This  subject  can 
be  illustrated  by  an  examination  of  the  present  condition  of  the  city  of 
Boston,  and  by  comparing  the  taxes  as  they  now  are  with  what  they 
would  be  if  the  single-tax  system  were  adopted. 


367 


A  Single  Tax  on  Land. 

The  sum  required  for  the  annual  expenses  of  the  city  of  Boston  is 
a  little  under  $12,000,000.  Of  this  sum  $10,000,000  is  directly  as¬ 
sessed  upon  property  within  the  city.  The  remainder  is  derived  from 
taxes  upon  corporations,  savings-banks,  and  the  like,  collected  by  the 
State  and  distributed  among  the  cities  and  towns.  The  total  value  of 
the  property  within  the  city,  as  given  by  Mr.  Thomas  Hills,  Principal 
Assessor,  under  whom  the  present  system  of  assessment  has  been  de¬ 
veloped  in  the  most  perfect  manner,  was  in  1888,  $764,000,000 — divided 
as  follows  :  valuation  of  land,  $333,000,000.  The  valuation  of  build¬ 
ings  $230,000,000,  and  the  valuation  of  personal  property,  aside  from 
that  which  is  taxed  through  the  State,  a  little  under  $201,000,000. 
The  direct  tax  upon  property,  as  now  assessed,  on  land,  buildings,  and 
personal  estate  has  been  at  the  rate  of  about  $13.50  per  $1,000 
in  recent  years.  The  debt  of  the  city  is  kept  nearly  at  the  maximum 
permitted  by  law,  and  there  are  few  who  do  not  think  that  some  of  the 
expenditures  for  which  money  is  borrowed  might  not  well  be  included 
in  the  estimate  of  taxes.  If,  however,  the  revenues  which  are  now 
required,  aside  from  the  debt,  were  raised  by  a  single  tax  on  land,  the 
rate  of  taxation  would  rise  from  $13.50  per  $1,000  and  would  be  not 
less  than  $35  per  $1,000,  for  city,  county,  and  State  purposes  only. 
The  population  of  the  city  is  in  round  figures  400,000,  their  share  of 
the  national  tax  averaged  per  capita  comes  to  a  little  within  $2,500,000. 
If  this  national  tax  were  assessed  by  a  single  tax  on  land,  the  amount 
which  would  be  assessed  in  Boston  would  be  vastly  increased.  What 
the  ratio  of  the  value  of  the  real  estate  in  Boston  to  the  total  value  of 
real  estate  assessed  throughout  the  country  at  the  present  time  may 
be  it  is  impossible  to  say.  In  1880,  the  valuation  in  Boston  of  land 
and  buildings  was  three  and  one  third  per  cent,  of  the  total  valu¬ 
ation  of  land  and  buildings  throughout  the  United  States  assessed 
for  the  purposes  of  local  taxation.  The  population  of  Boston  at 
that  time  was  only  three  quarters  of  one  per  cent,  of  the  total  pop¬ 
ulation  of  the  United  States.  Such  might  be  the  ratios  in  many 
other  cities.  Assuming  the  same  ratios  to  hold  at  the  present 
day,  and  that  Boston  should  be  called  upon  to  pay  its  share 
of  the  national  expenses  assessed  by  a  single  tax  on  land,  and 
that  Boston  land  bears  the  same  ratio  to  the  valuation  of  the 
United  States  that  it  did  in  1880,  her  proportion  of  the  present  na¬ 
tional  revenue  would  be  $12,000,000  in  place  of  $2,500,000  ;  raising 
the  rate  of  assessment  under  the  single-tax  system  to  over  $70  per 
thousand — $35,  or  one  half,  for  State  and  municipal  expenditures, 
and  $35,  or  one  half,  for  national  expenditures.  What  effect  would  a 
tax  of  seven  per  cent,  upon  the  present  valuation  of  property  have 
upon  its  future  market  valuation,  or  upon  its  rental  value  which  must 
be  determined  for  the  purpose  of  being  subjected  to  the  single  tax  ? 


368  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 

Would  not  such  an  assessment  instantly  deprive  land  of  a  large  part, 
if  not  of  the  whole  of  its  market  or  salable  value  ?  To  this  the  advo¬ 
cates  of  thesingle-tax  system  may  assent  and  may  affirm  that  this  is  the 
conclusion  which  they  desire  to  reach.  They  may  then  hold  that  any 
person  who  desires  to  become  possessed  of  apiece  of  land  might  then 
do  so  without  paying  out  any  considerable  sum  of  money  for  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  primary  possession.  But  what  would  be  the  conditions  ?  Any  one 
might  perhaps  become  the  conditional  possessor  of  a  piece  of  land 
with  little  or  no  cost  at  the  outset,  but  it  would  only  be  on  condition  that 
before  he  himself  could  get  any  benefit  out  of  it  he  must  make  use  of 
it  in  such  a  way  as  to  be  able  to  pay  a  sum  equal  to  seven  per  cent, 
of  its  present  valuation,  before  being  able  to  set  aside  any  part  of  the 
product  of  the  land  for  his  own  use.  Or,  put  it  in  another  way,  let  it 
be  assumed  that  the  people  of  Boston  or  any  other  city  400,000  in 
number  were  subjected  to  the  payment  of  a  tax  of  $24,000,000, — 
$12,000,000  for  State  and  municipal  purposes,  and  $12,000^000  for  na¬ 
tional, — that  comes  to  $60  per  head,  or  $300  a  year  for  each  family  of 
five  persons.  Under  these  conditions  any  one  who  might  choose 
could  become  entitled  to  apiece  of  land  previously  unoccupied  in  Bos¬ 
ton,  free  of  cost  for  purchase,  but  subject  to  the  condition  that  he  and 
his  family  numbering  five  persons  should  earn  by  the  use  of  that  land 
$300  per  year,  to  be  devoted  to  the  first  lien  of  the  State  and  nation  ; 
i.  <?.,  to  the  single  tax,  before  setting  aside  any  thing  from  their  work  for 
shelter,  clothing,  or  subsistence.  Under  these  conditions  what  benefit 
would  the  conditional  possession  of  land  under  the  single-tax  system 
be  to  the  poor  man  ?  Could  any  one  but  large  capitalists  afford  to 
accept  even  a  gift  of  land  under  such  conditions  ?  Would  not  the 
tendency  of  these  conditions  be  to  depopulate  the  peninsula  of  Boston, 
and  to  concentrate  the  land  in  fewer  hands  than  possess  it  at  the 
present  time  under  the  present  conditions  ? 

Again,  suppose  that  this  did  depopulate  Boston  and  other  cities: 
and  did  tend  to  the  diffusion  of  population,  would  not  the  burden  of 
taxation  go  with  them  to  other  land  which  they  would  then  occupy  ? 
Wherever  they  might  find  an  abiding-place,  there  the  single  tax  on  land 
would  extend  over  the  land  which  they  might  occupy,  because  the 
growth  of  society  adds  the  unearned  increment  to  the  site  value  of 
land  according  to  their  own  theory,  and  the  tax  would  go  with  the  site 
or  rental  value. 

Or  again,  let  it  be  assumed  that  the  same  people  would  remain  in 
Boston,  that  some  one  would  accept  the  possession  of  land  under  the 
new  conditions,  and  that  it  would  either  cost  them  nothing,  or  that  it 
would  cost  them  but  a  small  part  of  the  present  valuation  in  order  to 
obtain  such  possession  ;  how  would  the  single  tax  of  $24,000,000  then  be 
assessed  ?  There  would  either  be  no  valuation  of  land  to  serve  as  a 


369 


A  Single  Tax  on  Land. 

guide  for  assessment,  or  else  there  would  be  a  valuation  very  much 
less  than  the  present,  while  there  would  be  no  change  in  the  burden 
or  amount  of  taxation,  therefore  if  the  valuation  went  down  the  rate 
would  go  up.  Advocates  of  the  single-tax  system  say  that  the  site 
value  or  rental  value  of  each  lot  would  remain,  owing  to  the  existence 
of  a  dense  population  and  the  necessity  for  the  use  of  such  lots,  even 
though  the  cash  or  money  valuation  had  disappeared  wholly  or  in  part. 
Who  would  then  determine  the  site  value  or  rental  value  of  each  lot, 
and  in  what  way  would  the  title  be  vested  in  those  by  whom  capital 
must  be  spent  upon  the  land  in  order  that  it  may  be  of  any  productive 
use  whatever  ?  Would  it  not  become  necessary  for  the  city  itself  to 
enter  into  contracts  for  taxation  upon  the  site  value  or  the  rental  value 
at  a  fixed  rate  fior  long  terms  ofi  years  ?  Who  would  occupy  land  or 
spend  any  capital  upon  it  if  subjected  to  such  a  heavy  burden,  unless 
under  a  permanent  agreement  or  bargain,  which  would  simply  be 
holding  under  a  lease  from  the  State  or  city  ?  What  would  that  be  but  a 
continuance  of  the  worst  form  of  land  tenure — the  possession  of  land 
under  a  perpetual  ground-rent  ? 

These  are  simple  and  practical  questions.  The  sum  of  all  taxation 
required  for  national,  State,  and  municipal  purposes  in  the  United 
States  is  not  far  from  $700,000,000  ;  if  that  whole  sum  is  to  be  raised 
by  a  single  tax  on  the  valuation  of  land,  that  part  which  would  fall 
upon  the  cities  is  indicated  by  the  simple  fact  that  the  share  of  the  city 
of  Boston  would  be  $24,000,000.  The  share  of  other  cities  and  towns 
would  be  in  similar  proportions.  The  share  falling  upon  the  best 
farm  land  would  also  be  much  greater  than  it  now  is,  and  the  share 
falling  upon  poor  land  or  land  now  uncultivated  and  unoccupied  would 
be  very  small.  It  would  then  of  necessity  follow  that  only  those  who 
possessed  large  capital  could  afford  to  hold  or  possess  lands  under 
the  new  single-tax  conditions  either  in  the  cities,  towns,  or  the  best 
positions  for  farms  ;  while  the  very  poor,  in  proportion  to  their  pov¬ 
erty,  would  be  forbidden  the  possession  of  land  except  at  points  the 
most  distant  from  the  centres  of  industry.  To  this  conclusion  the 
logic  of  the  system  inevitably  tends  :  what  answer  can  its  advocates 
give  to  these  propositions  and  these  demonstrations  ? 

The  case  must  be  considered  theoretically,  because  there  is  no 
community  now  existing  in  which  the  public  revenues  are  derived  from 
a  single  tax  upon  land  or  site  value.  The  nearest  approach  to  the  sys¬ 
tem  was  made  by  the  Directory  of  the  French  Republic.  It  broke  up  a 
very  bad  system  of  land  tenure, wholly  different  from  any  thing  known  in 
this  country,  and  led  through  great  disasters  to  the  present  system  of 
compulsory  land  distribution  to  which  France  is  now  subjected. 

The  writer  is  not  to  be  held  as  fully  approving  either  of  the  present 

method  of  collecting  the  national  taxes,  or  the  present  method  of 
24 


37o 


\ 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 

assessing  both  real  estate  and  personal  property  for  municipal  pur¬ 
poses,  there  are  great  improvements  which  may  be  made  in  both 
branches.  What  he  has  endeavored  to  prove  is  that  there  is  no 
abstract  principles  of  taxation  by  the  application  of  which  either  the 
causes  of  poverty  may  be  removed  or  land  forced  into  wider  distribu¬ 
tion  or  more  productive  use  than  under  the  present  conditions.  Taxa¬ 
tion  is  as  yet  an  experimental  science  to  be  tested  by  its  results  and 
brought  by  experience  into  the  conditions  under  which  the  largest 
revenue  required  for  the  use  of  the  government  economically  adminis¬ 
tered  may  be  raised  with  the  least  burden  to  the  people  and  the  least 
obstruction  to  their  free  choice  of  the  pursuits  which  they  may  follow 
in  bringing  forth  from  the  soil,  the  factory,  the  mine,  or  the  sea  that 
annual  product  from  which  all  taxes,  wages,  earnings,  profits,  and  rents 
must  be  alike  derived. 

We  are  now  led  back  to  the  consideration  of  the  only  grounds 
upon  which  the  single  tax  system  might  be  justified,  to  wit  :  given  a 
certain  sum  necessary  to  the  support  of  the  government  to  be  derived 
from  a  single-tax  upon  land, — given  a  certain  sum  of  rents  derived 
from  land  by  private  owners  and  now  enjoyed  by  them  which  would  be 
more  or  less  sufficient  to  meet  the  necessities  of  government,  whatever 
the  actual  facts  in  regard  to  the  sum  of  rents  may  be  ;  given  as  com¬ 
plete  an  act  as  it  might  be  in  the  power  of  men  to  devise  to  secure  to 
the  people  by  a  single  tax  upon  land  a  sum  equal  to  the  rents  now 
secured  by  private  persons  through  their  possession  of  the  land  under 
existing  laws,  such  sum  to  be  devoted  to  the  support  of  the  govern¬ 
ment  and  all  other  forms  of  taxation  done  away  with  ; — would  those 
who  might  then  come  into  the  conditional  possession  of  land  under 
these  new  conditions  of  a  single-tax  tenure  thereafter  be  capable  of 
distributing  the  tax  upon  the  consumers  of  the  products  derived 
directly  from  the  soil,  or  converted  in  factories,  or  distributed  in  ware¬ 
houses  ?  In  other  words,  would  the  conditional  possessor  of  land 
under  the  new  system  bear  all  the  taxes  and  be  incapable  of  securing 
rent  or  profit  or  both  rent  and  profit  from  land  ?  Would  there  not  be 
a  distribution  substantially  of  the  same  kind,  in  the  same  amount,  and 
upon  the  same  persons  that  now  do  the  work  from  which  rents  and 
taxes  are  now  derived, — whatever  kind  of  work,  mental,  manual,  or 
mechanical,  that  work  may  be  ?  The  sum  of  all  the  taxes  would  be 
the  same  that  it  is  now, — the  sum  of  the  gross  value  of  the  product 
would  be  subject  to  the  same  variation  that  it  is  now  ; — that  is  to  say,  it 
would  vary  with  the  seasons  and  with  the  amount  of  capital  and  labor 
which  might  be  applied  to  production.  The  amount  of  all  work  of  all 
kinds  would  be  substantially  the  same  that  it  is  now  ;  a  certain  pro¬ 
portion  of  the  people  would  of  necessity  be  devoted  to  agriculture, 
another  proportion  to  the  mechanic  arts,  another  proportion  to  manu- 


i 


37i 


A  Single  Tax  on  Land. 

factures  and  mining,  another  to  trade  and  transportation,  and  another 
to  professional  services.  Would  the  joint  product  of  all  these  forces 
be  increased  or  would  it  be  distributed  in  any  more  equitable  or  even 
manner  ?  If  not,  the  change  in  the  conditional  possession  of  land 
might  not  be  worth  the  cost  and  difficulty  of  the  undertaking  ;  if  oth¬ 
erwise,  the  change  might  be  justified. 

Again,  taking  once  more  the  three  examples  of  the  farm,  the  factory, 
and  the  warehouse  :  the  number  of  persons  in  possession  of  sufficient 
capital  who  could  make  use  of  land  for  cultivation  would  probably  be 
lessened  if  the  occupant  were  called  upon  to  submit  in  each  year  to  a 
first  lien  of  taxation  through  the  land  upon  its  crops  to  double,  treble, 
and  quadruple  the  amount  which  the  farmer  is  now  called  upon  to  pay. 
A  great  number  of  small  farmers  now  gaining  a  fair  subsistence  by  their 
own  labor  and  due  in  least  proportion  to  the  use  of  capital  might  then 
be  compelled  to  take  the  position  of  the  employed  rather  than  the  em¬ 
ployer.  No  capital  would  be  invested  in  farming  unless  the  product 
of  the  farm  could  be  charged,  first,  with  all  the  taxes  imposed  upon  the 
land  as  part  of  the  cost  of  production,  and,  second,  charged  with  all  wages 
paid  and  materials  used  upon  the  farm,  as  a  part  of  the  cost  of  produc¬ 
tion.  Unless  in  addition,  over  and  above  these  elements  of  cost,  a 
customary  profit,  interest,  or  compensation  for  the  use  of  capital  and 
for  the  services  of  capitalists  could  also  be  recovered  from  the  sale  of 
the  products,  the  products  of  agriculture  would  be  diminished  until 
they  could  be  so  charged.  Under  these  conditions,  the  tax  upon  farm 
lands,  equal  under  the  new  conditions  to  what  both  rent  and  taxes 
now  come  to,  must  ultimately  fall  wholly  upon  the  consumers  of  farm 
products. 

Next,  in  respect  to  factories,  the  area  of  land  occupied  by  the  largest 
factories  and  those  that  are  the  most  productive,  is  very  small  in  pro¬ 
portion  to  the  product  of  the  factory,  and  as  steam  and  electricity  are 
rapidly  supplanting  or  taking  the  place  of  water-power,  the  choice  of 
position  for  large  factories  may  be  made  almost  at  will  with  a  view  to 
occupying  lands  of  a  minimum  rental  or  taxable  value.  Under  these 
conditions  it  would  probably  happen  that  the  large  factories  would 
be  relieved  from  a  considerable  part  of  the  present  burden  of  taxation 
upon  them  if  they  were  called  upon  to  pay  a  tax  only  upon  the  land. 
Under  the  present  conditions  the  owners  of  capital  in  the  factory  have 
no  difficulty  in  charging  the  heavy  tax  to  which  they  are  now  subject, 
to  the  cost  of  the  goods,  and  unless  they  can  recover  the  cost  of  mate¬ 
rial,  the  wages  paid  and  the  taxes  as  well,  from  the  sale  of  the  product, 
with  an  adequate  compensation  over  and  above  to  pay  for  the  service 
of  that  capital  and  for  the  support  of  the  owners,  that  branch  of  manu¬ 
facture  fails  to  extend,  and  may  even  ultimately  fail  to  exist.  Since 
the  consumers  of  goods  made  in  the  factory  now  pay  all  the  heavy 


372  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  iXation. 

taxes  upon  the  goods  made  in  that  factory,  would  not  a  single  tax  on 
land  of  less  amount  be  as  surely  put  into  the  goods,  and  would  not  the 
consumers  be  forced  to  pay  that  tax  ?  What  effect  would  such  a  single 
tax  on  land  have  upon  the  profits  of  the  owners  of  factories  ? 

In  respect  to  the  mechanic  arts  customarily  conducted  in  small 
.  shops  or  buildings  less  costly  in  proportion  to  the  product  than  the 
factories,  and  which  must  of  necessity  be  placed  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  population  who  are  served  by  the  mechanics, — a  single  tax  upon 
the  land  occupied  would,  without  question,  increase  the  burden  of  the 
occupants  far  beyond  their  present  share  of  taxation.  Or  again,  unless 
under  this  single-tax  system  the  mechanic  could  recover  from  the  sale 
of  his  product  adequate  remuneration  for  the  tax,  he  would  not  occupy 
the  land  and  would  not  pay  the  single  tax.  In  point  of  fact,  the  bur¬ 
den  on  the  mechanic  would  be  a  little  heavier  than  it  now  is,  and 
would  surely  be  distributed  upon  those  who  consume  the  products  or 
require  the  services  of  mechanics.  With  respect  to  mines  :  if  all  taxes 
should  be  assessed  upon  land,  including  land  underlaid  with  coal,  iron, 
and  other  mineral  products,  the  proportion  now  borne  would  doubtless 
be  greatly  increased  ;  but  in  this  case,  unless  those  who  occupy  the 
mines  under  the  new  conditions  could  recover  the  labor,  profits,  taxes , 
and  interest  in  substantially  the  same  proportions  and  in  the  same  way 
that  the  present  taxes  are  now  recovered  from  the  consumers  of  the 
products  of  the  mines,  these  mines  would  not  be  worked  to  the  same 
extent  which  they  are  now  worked,  prices  of  the  products  of  the  mines 
would  rise,  and  ultimately  the  consumer  would  pay  all  the  additional 
taxes  upon  mining  lands  in  addition  to  the  present  cost  of  mining 
these  products. 

Or  in  respect  to  city  warehouses,  the  highest  rents  are  now  paid  for 
the  choice  of  position  whereon  to  place  the  largest  buildings,  most  con¬ 
venient  for  distribution.  These  excessively  high  rents,  however,  add 
to  the  cost  of  distribution  much  less  than  the  low  rents  of  small  shops 
in  which  a  relatively  small  traffic  is  carried  on.  If  the  single-tax  system 
is  adopted,  and  all  taxes  are  paid  upon  land,  the  burden  will  fall  most 
heavily  upon  city  lots,  as  illustrated  in  the  example  of  the  city  of 
Boston,  but  in  this  instance  again,  unless  this  increased  burden  due  to 
the  single  tax  on  land  can  be  charged  to  the  cost  of  distributing  the 
goods  sold  in  the  warehouses,  coupled  with  a  suitable  charge  for  the 
services  of  those  employed  therein,  the  work  will  not  be  done  in  that 
way.  When  the  warehouse  is  taxed  out  of  existence  in  which  the  cost 
of  distributing  goods  or  wares  is  least  on  account  of  the  facilities  which 
it  gives,  the  burden  upon  the  consumers  would  increase  ;  they  would 
pay  a  much  greater  sum  than  they  now  pay  for  the  cost  of  distribution. 

If  these  would  not  be  the  results  of  this  system,  what  would  they 
be  ?  The  advocates  of  this  system  of  a  single  tax  on  land  are  invited 
to  answer  this  question. 


373 


A  Single  Tax  on  Land . 

If  the  reasoning  on  which  this  treatise  has  been  prepared  is  logical 
and  conclusive,  it  therefore  follows  that  the  attempt  to  put  the  charge 
for  all  public  revenues  wholly  upon  land,  while  it  might  do  away  with 
an  element  of  charge  now  called  rent  in  part  or  wholly,  and  while  it 
might  alter  the  sum  paid  for  the  choice  of  position  and  for  the  occu¬ 
pation  of  land  under  new  conditions, — yet  it  would  tend  on  the  whole 
to  concentrate  the  conditional  possession  of  land  in  fewer  hands  and 
make  it  a  much  greater  necessity  that  the  occupant  of  land  should  also 
possess  a  considerable  capital  than  is  now  needed.  It  would  not  tend 
to  an  increased  product,  and  it  would  not  remove  from  the  consumers 
of  the  products  any  part  of  the  burden  of  taxation  or  of  the  rent  they 
now  pay.  It  would  not  in  any  way  affect  the  process  of  distribution 
except  by  increasing  the  disparity  between  the  rich,  the  moderately 
well-to-do,  and  the  workman  who  depends  wholly  upon  his  work  for  a 
living.  The  proposition  can  therefore  neither  be  sustained  as  a  true 
principle  of  taxation  nor  as  an  expedient  method  of  raising  the  public 
revenues. 

The  final  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter  might  be  summed  up  in  a 
very  concise  statement  :  land  attains  value  in  exchange  (rental  value 
or  site  value,  whichever  term  may  be  applied)  only  in  ratio  to  the  use 
to  which  it  may  be  put  as  a  source  of  primary  production,  or  as  a  place 
on  which  production  can  be  continued  or  from  which  distribution 
can  be  made.  Land  cannot  be  divided  or  in  itself  applied  directly  to 
taxation,  because  taxation  is  only  one  mode  of  distributing  the  prod¬ 
ucts  of  land.  Production  cannot  be  secured  without  work  ;  a  tax  on 
land  is  therefore  a  tax  on  all  the  work  of  production  and  distribution 
in  practically  even  proportion  without  regard  to  the  quality  of  the 
product  or  the  distribution  :  it  falls  on  all  work,  whether  the  product 
be  necessary  to  life  or  of  voluntary  use,  and  whether  the  distribution 
be  a  mode  of  necessary  consumption  or  of  luxurious  consumption. 
Ninety  per  cent,  of  all  the  people  of  this  country  belong  in  some  sense 
to  the  working  class,  according  to  the  narrow  interpretation  in  which 
that  term  is  commonly  used  ;  that  is  to  say,  they  work  for  a  living, 
either  directly  upon  land,  or  serve  others  either  for  small  salaries  or 
for  moderate  wages,  producing  little  more  than  is  necessary  for  their 
own  consumption.  Perhaps  about  one  tenth  of  the  community  may 
be  counted  among  the  more  prosperous  class,  that  is,  among  those 
whose  previous  earnings  have  been  saved  in  sufficient  measure  to  re¬ 
lieve  them  in  part  or  wholly  from  the  necessity  of  present  work  or  to 
aid  them  in  doing  much  more  work  than  is  needed  for  subsistence.  A 
single  tax  upon  land  can  only  be  a  tax  upon  all  production  :  it  would 
therefore  be  a  tax  upon  all  consumption  of  every  kind,  and  therefore 
might  be  a  true  method  of  distributing  the  burden  of  cost  of  the  gov¬ 
ernment  upon  every  class  without  discrimination  and  without  regard  to 
the  relative  productive  capacity  of  any  member  of  either  class. 


374 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


The  merits  of  the  system  of  a  single  tax  upon  land  would  be  that  it 
could  be  readily  and  surely  collected,  and  that  the  burden  of  such  a  tax 
would  force  the  attention  of  every  man  and  woman  to  the  necessity  of 
limiting  the  expenditures  of  the  government  to  the  least  possible  sum 
necessary  to  the  conduct  of  its  functions. 

The  fault  of  the  system  would  be  that  it  would  leave  no  room  for 
expediency  in  relieving  those  least  capable  of  sparing  a  part  of  their 
product  in  order  to  put  that  burden  upon  those  whose  productive 
capacity  might  be  greater.  It  would  also  do  away  with  the  discrimina¬ 
tion  now  somewhat  blindly  exercised  in  the  choice  of  subjects  for 
taxation,  by  relieving  whiskey,  tobacco,  beer,  and  other  articles  of 
voluntary  use  or  luxuries  from  all  taxes.  The  whole  subject  must 
therefore  be  reviewed  upon  the  grounds  of  expediency  and  not  of 
principle.  As  a  principle  of  taxation,  a  single  tax  upon  land  might  be 
very  equal  in  the  burden  which  it  might  impose  upon  all  consumers, 
but  would  it  be  equitable  in  the  manner  in  which  it  would  prevent  the 
division  or  distribution  of  this  burden  in  ratio  to  the  productive 
capacity  of  each  producer  ? 

In  this  attempt  to  treat  the  subject  of  taxation,  I  have  been  led 
almost  in  spite  of  myself  to  the  conclusion  that  the  only  way  in 
which  those  least  capable  of  being  taxed,  because  least  capable  of 
making  a  large  product,  can  be  exempted  in  some  measure,  from  the 
necessary  weight  of  taxation,  is  through  a  system  of  indirect  taxation 
upon  consumable  goods  rather  than  upon  property  ;  for  the  reason 
that  wherever  or  however  taxes  are  wholly  imposed  upon  property 
(except  by  a  succession  tax),  the  owner  of  the  property,  whether  in 
land  or  capital,  can  find  out  a  way  of  distributing  the  tax  and  of 
collecting  it  from  others  ;  while  an  indirect  tax  assessed  upon  con¬ 
sumable  products  may  be  avoided  wholly  or  in  part  by  him  who 
refrains  from  consuming  any  such  subjects  of  taxation.  For  this 
reason,  so  far  as  public  revenues  can  be  derived  from  whiskey,  beer, 
tobacco,  and  wine,  or  other  similar  articles  of  purely  voluntary  con¬ 
sumption,  such  a  tax  may  be  the  most  expedient,  least  burdensome, 
and  although  not  equal  yet  perhaps  the  most  equitable  mode  of 
collecting  a  considerable  part  of  the  revenue,  with  the  least  injurious 
effect  upon  productive  energy.  This  conclusion  has  been  reached  by 
the  writer  by  divesting  the  mind  as  far  as  possible  of  the  conception  of 
money  as  a  measure  of  taxation,  and  by  treating  taxation  wholly  as  a 
mode  of  work  subject  to  be  paid  in  greatest  proportion  in  the  first  in¬ 
stance  by  those  whose  working  capacity,  either  mental,  mechanical,  or 
manual,  is  greatest,  or  by  those  who  know  how  to  make  the  most  pro¬ 
ductive  use  either  of  land  or  capital,  wherever  the  burden  may 
ultimately  fall  when  the  tax  is  finally  distributed. 


RELIGION  AND  LIFE 


RELIGION  AND  LIFE. 


IN  the  preface  to  this  book  I  have  given  the  motive  of  my  literary 
work. 

For  nearly  fifty  years  I  have  been  engaged  in  the  practical  work 
of  this  world,  occupied  in  the  functions  of  life  which  the  priest  in 
almost  all  churches  and  under  all  the  various  phases  of  religion  has 
been  apt  to  disparage  and  to  hold  in  slight  repute. 

The  result  of  my  own  observation  and  experience  has  sufficed  to 
convince  me,  if  it  may  convince  no  one  else,  that  the  power  which 
makes  for  righteousness  compels  the  very  selfishness  of  man  to  work 
for  the  material  welfare  of  his  fellow-men.  It  matters  not  that  the 
stock  and  bonds  of  a  railway  corporation  may  be  converted  into  the 
loaded  dice  with  which  an  unconvicted  felon  can  defraud  a  portion  of 
the  community  ;  the  railway  system  to  which  he  may  apply  such  ne¬ 
farious  methods  must  yet  be  itself  conducted  so  as  to  carry  food  to  the 
hungry,  clothing  to  the  naked,  and  shelter  to  the  homeless.  The  be¬ 
neficent  work  which  he  is  compelled  to  do  lives  after  him  ;  the  evil 
which  perverts  his  own  life  may  be  buried  with  him  in  his  dishonored 
grave.  The  older  I  grow  the  more  profoundly  convinced  have  I  be¬ 
come  of  the  truth  of  a  proposition  made  I  think  by  Sir  Henry  Maine 
in  one  of  his  works  : 

“  The  trust  reposed  in  and  deserved  by  the  many  makes  the  oppor¬ 
tunity  for  the  fraud  of  the  few.” 

In  the  subsequent  little  tract,  I  have  referred  to  my  own  experience 
in  dealing  with  men  for  the  sale  of  goods  counted  even  up  to  more  than 
a  hundred  million  dollars’  worth,  with  but  fractional  loss  for  lack  of 
full  and  prompt  payment  when  the  bills  were  due.  For  the  last  twelve 
years  I  have  been  at  the  head  of  a  Mutual  Insurance  Company  whose 
principal  function  is  to  prevent  loss  by  fire  in  the  textile  factories  and 
other  works  which  are  insured  by  it,  paying  indemnity  when  unavoid¬ 
able  loss  may  occur.  The  system  rests  but  little  upon  the  legal  obliga¬ 
tions  of  the  members  each  to  the  other,  but  almost  wholly  upon  their 
mutual  good-faith.  In  thirty-eight  years  this  corporation  has  insured 
over  thirteen  hundred  million  dollars’  worth  of  property — yet  it  has 


377 


378 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


never  been  subjected  to  a  lawsuit  or  been  obliged  to  have  recourse  to 
a  court  on  its  own  behalf.  In  its  whole  history  it  has  met  but  one  loss, 
which  could  even  on  suspicion  be  imputed  to  a  fire  set  by  an  owner  or 
manager  of  the  works  in  order  to  defraud  the  corporation,  and  that 
single  suspicion  could  not  be  sustained  by  any  adequate  proof.  I  have 
myself  been  subjected  to  heavy  loss,  due  to  the  perversion  of  trust  on 
the  part  of  the  head  of  a  great  railway  corporation,  and  to  deceit  prac¬ 
tised  upon  the  Board  of  Directors  ;  I  am  well  aware  that  base  men 
still  possess  great  influence  in  political  life  ;  yet  my  confidence  in 
human  nature  remains  the  same,  and  my  hope  of  the  ultimate  attain¬ 
ment  of  human  welfare  is  unimpaired. 

The  malignant  forces  which  have  caused  war  and  wretchedness 
among  men,  and  the  perversion  of  public  and  corporate  trust  to  pur¬ 
poses  of  private  gain  and  fraud,  may  continue  perhaps  for  a  long 
period.  There  must  yet  be  one  great  convulsion,  perhaps  more,  in 
other  lands  away  from  us,  by  which  dynasties  and  privileges  may  de¬ 
stroy  themselves  ;  yet  there  again  uppn  the  ruins  of  the  past  shall  surely 
be  built  up  the  welfare  of  future  generations  of  men,  and  then  “  the 
ships  that  pass  between  this  land  and  that  shall  be  like  the  shuttle  of 
the  loom  weaving  the  web  of  concord  among  the  nations.” 

I  have  endeavored  to  present  this  ideal  aspect  of  life  based  upon 
the  study  of  material  things  in  the  subsequent  pages,  which  first  con¬ 
stituted  an  address  a  little  out  of  my  common  line  of  work,  and  which 
I  have  entitled  Religion  and  Life.  I  submit  this  essay  as  the  conclusion 
of  the  whole  matter. 


The  following  essay  was  prepared  for  a  meeting  of  the  Norfolk  Unitarian  Con¬ 
ference,  and  afterward  read  at  a  meeting  of  the  Unitarian  Club  in  Boston. 

The  writer  had  not  before  taken  any  part  in  the  treatment  of  religious  subjects  ; 
but  being  impressed  with  the  necessity  of  bringing  the  functions  of  the  preacher  more 
into  line  with  the  necessary  work  which  must  be  done  so  long  as  man  dwells  in  the 
body  which  he  occupies  while  upon  the  earth,  so  that  it  may  be  sustained,  he  ventured 
to  hold  up  the  layman’s  mirror  for  the  clergyman  to  look  upon,  in  order  that  the  true 
purpose  of  the  material  work  which  men  must  do  might  be  more  justly  comprehended. 


The  separation  of  matters  pertaining  to  religion  in  a  technical  sense 
from  the  life  which  men  must  of  necessity  lead  has,  I  think,  a  great 
deal  to  do  with  the  waning  interest  in  the  religious,  or  tbe  irreligious 
creeds  as  some  of  them  may  more  rightly  be  named.  It  may  also 
account  for  the  lesser  number  interested  in  the  organization  of  churches 
and  parishes.  The  aspect  of  life  to  the  busy  student  of  affairs,  who  is 
also  occupied  in  the  daily  work  of  business,  is  one  of  profound  interest 
to  him  who  is  capable  of  looking  a  little  below  the  surface  and  compre¬ 
hending  the  true  function  of  himself  and  of  his  associates.  When  I 
was  called  upon  a  year  or  two  ago  to  address  the  alumni  of  Andover 


Religion  and  Life. 


37  9 


Theological  Seminary,1  I  chose  for  my  subject  the  intimate  relations  of 
ethical  and  economic  science  ;  and,  as  I  desired  to  make  a  good  appear¬ 
ance  before  the  graduates,  I  asked  Dr.  William  Everett  to  give  me  a 
Latin  phrase  by  which  I  might  convey  in  sonorous  words  the  idea  that 
unless  the  human  body  were  well  nourished  and  cared  for  there  could 
be  no  harmonious  development  of  the  human  soul  or  spirit.  He  in¬ 
stantly  replied,  “Non  est  animus  cui  non  esi  corpus.”  Has  a  man  a 
soul  whose  body  does  not  eat?  Not  here,  certainly, — perhaps  some¬ 
where  else.  The  sound  mind,  the  true  spirit,  and  the  well-nourished 
body  are  but  three  phases  of  the  same  life,  each  the  complement  of  the 
other.  As  Dr.  Reuen  Thomas  said  at  the  opening  of  our  Union  the 
other  day,  quoting  from  another  :  “  ‘  He  who  treats  of  food  treats  of 
morality  also.’  ”  If  I  and  other  men  like  me  did  not  preach  the  potato 
gospel,  on  what  fulcrum  would  you  rest  the  lever  of  your  spiritual 
gospel  ? 

Now,  then,  according  to  the  old  Orthodox  creed,  the  world,  the 
flesh,  and  the  devil  are  held  to  be  absolutely  synonymous.  Therefore, 
the  business  man  who  is  occupied  in  the  world  with  the  concerns  of 
the  flesh,  and  who  really  knows  what  his  function  is,  rejects  the  whole 
creed  without  any  hesitation.  He  does  not  stop  to  reason  or  to  deter¬ 
mine  in  what  way  the  world  and  the  flesh  may  become  of  the  devil. 
He  simply  says  :  “  That  man  does  not  know  what  he  is  talking  about. 
I  wont  listen  to  that  sort  of  thing  any  more.”  And  he  stays  away  from 
meeting,  as  I  should  do  if  I  could  only  listen  to  the  ordinary  treatment 
of  the  subject  of  religion  as  practised  by  most  of  the  Protestant  clergy. 
The  Catholic  symbolism  would  be  much  more  gracious  to  me.  Is  it 
just  or  expedient  that  men  should  be  repelled  from  thinking  about  the 
true  aspect  of  religion  and  life  by  false  doctrine  ?  Religion,  in  a  true 
sense,  and  life  can  no  more  be  separated  than  the  soul  can  be  separated 
from  the  body,  except  by  physical  death.  Is  it  not  important  that 
this  very  foundation,  this  fact  of  existence  itself,  should  become  a 
part  of  the  common  knowledge  and  thought  of  every-day  men  and 
women  ? 

I  think  the  common  absolute  misconception  of  the  real  material 
work  of  the  world  and  the  separation  of  the  functions  of  religion  from 
the  functions  of  life  grow  out  of  the  old  dead  creeds.  I  suppose  every¬ 
body  has  read  “  John  Ward  ”  and  “  Robert  Elsmere  ”  ;  and  they  may 
have  been  subjected  to  the  same  intellectual  difficulty  to  which  I  have 
been  subjected, — namely,  I  have  found  it  utterly  impossible  to  put  my¬ 
self  in  the  place  of  either  John  Ward  and  his  wife  or  of  Mrs.  Elsmere 

1  When  first  dictating  this  memorandum  I  made  a  singular  slip  by  using  the  words 
“Andover  Theological  Cemetery Perhaps  I  might  have  let  “cemetery”  stand  ex¬ 
cept  for  the  vigorous,  active,  and  good  work  which  is  now  being  done  there  by  Prof. 
Egbert  Smyth  and  his  associates. 


380 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


and  her  husband.  I  cannot  conceive  that  the  old  dogma  or  necessity 
for  a  formulated  belief  should  attain  such  complete  control  over  any 
well  trained  or  well  developed  human  intellect  at  the  present  time.  My 
imagination  fails  to  grasp  the  sense  of  importance  attached  to  matters 
of  belief  like  those  with  which  the  two  men  struggled.  In  order  to  find 
out  how  such  men  could  exist,  it  occurred  to  me  to  find  out  how  chil¬ 
dren  or  young  people  might  be  educated,  even  in  our  day,  so  as  to 
bring  them  into  such  a  dreadful  condition  of  mind. 

I  accordingly  started  a  day  or  two  since  on  a  short  walk  to  the  head¬ 
quarters  of  the  various  denominations.  I  first  went  to  the  Episcopal 
counter  in  the  Old  Corner  Book-store,  and  asked  if  they  had  a  creed 
to  sell,  to  which  the  reply  was  made  :  “  Yes  ;  here  it  is.  The  price  is 
two  cents.”  I  bought  it  and  went  on  to  the  Congregational  building, 
where  I  asked  a  young  man  if  there  was  such  a  thing  as  an  Orthodox 
creed.  He  said  he  believed  they  had  one  ;  and  he  went  to  the  back 
part  of  the  store,  hunted  about  for  a  while,  then  called  another  young 
man  to  help  him  find  the  creed.  I  thought  this  a  good  sign, — that  it 
took  two  men  to  find  one  copy  of  the  Orthodox  creed  in  the  principal 
Orthodox  book-store.  I  bought  that  one  for  two  cents.  He  then  in¬ 
formed  me  that  the  Unitarian  building  was  on  the  next  corner,  and 
that  I  might  perhaps  find  a  Unitarian  creed  there.  On  application  I 
was  given  a  copy  of  James  Freeman  Clarke’s  pamphlet  called  “Why 
am  I  a  Unitarian?”  I  then  went  down  to  the  Tremont  Temple,  and 
was  from  there  directed  to  the  headquarters  of  the  Baptist  denomina¬ 
tion  on  Washington  Street.  The  Baptist  creed  cost  me  five  cents. 
Then  I  went  back  to  the  Methodist  book  concern  in  Bromfield  Street, 
where  the  Methodist  creed  was  sold  to  me  for  two  cents  ;  and  lastly,  I 
went  to  the  Universalist  bookstore,  where  they  presented  me  with  a, 
simple  and  excellent  creed  printed  on  a  card,  in  three  articles,  without 
any  charge.  Since  then  I  have  secured  a  Presbyterian  creed  for  ten 
cents.  It  therefore  appears  that  the  price  of  a  creed  ranges  from 
nothing  up  to  ten  cents  ;  and  I  find  the  value  to  be  in  inverse  propor¬ 
tion  to  the  price.  I  particularly  like  Article  III.  of  the  Universalist 
creed:  “We  believe  that  holiness  and  true  happiness  are  inseparably 
connected,  and  that  believers  ought  to  be  careful  to  maintain  order  and 
practise  good  works  ;  for  these  things  are  good  and  profitable  unto 
men.”  With  James  Freeman  Clarke’s  creed  you  are  doubtless  very 
familiar.  But  now  we  come  to  what  I  cannot  help  calling,  without  in¬ 
tending  any  want  of  respect,  the  antique  and  horrible.  If  children  are 
brought  up  on  spiritual  food  of  the  sort  contained  in  these  so-called 
religious  manuals,  “John  Ward”  and  “Robert  Elsmere  ”  are  not  so 
difficult  of  comprehension.  I  will  make  a  few  extracts  without  identi¬ 
fying  the  different  creeds,  in  order  to  bring  out  the  whole  horror  of  the 
thing  in  the  most  conspicuous  way  :  — 


Religion  and  Life.  381 

1.  “  Q. — What  is  the  inward  and  spiritual  grace  ? 

“A. — A  death  unto  sin  and  a  new  birth  unto  righteousness:  for, 
being  by  nature  born  in  sin,  and  the  children  of  wrath ,  we  are  hereby 
made  the  children  of  grace.” 

2.  “We  believe  in  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  and  in  a  final 
judgment,  the  issues  of  which  are  everlasting  punishment  and  ever¬ 
lasting  life.” 

3.  “  We  believe  that  man  was  created  in  holiness  under  the  law  of 
his  Maker  ;  but  by  voluntary  transgression  he  fell  from  that  holy  and 
happy  state,  i?i  conseque?ice  of  which  all  mankind  are  now  sinners,  not  by 
constraint ,  but  by  choice ,  being  by  nature  utterly  void  of  that  holiness  re¬ 
quired  by  the  law  of  God,  positively  inclined  to  evil,  and  therefore 
under  just  condemnation  to  eternal  ruin ,  without  defence  or  excuse.” 

4  “  Of  original  or  birth  sin.  Original  sin  standeth  not  in  the 
following  of  Adam  (as  the  Pelagians  do  vainly  teach)  ;  but  it  is  the 
corruption  of  the  nature  of  every  man  that  naturally  is  engendered 
of  the  offspring  of  Adam,  whereby  man  is  very  far  gone  from  original 
righteousness,  and  is  of  his  own  nature  inclined  to  evil ,  and  that 
continually 

5.  “By  the  decree  of  God  for  the  manifestation  of  his  glory  some 
men  are  predestined  unto  everlasting  life  and  others  are  foreordained  to 
everlasting  death.  .  .  .  The  rest  of  mankind  God  was  pleased,  ac¬ 

cording  to  the  unsearchable  counsel  of  his  own  will,  whereby  he  con- 
•cedeth  or  withdraweth  mercy,  as  he  pleaseth,  for  the  glory  of  his 
sovereign  power  over  his  creatures,  to  pass  by  and  to  ordain  them  to 
dishonor  and  wrath,  for  their  sin ,  to  the  grace  of  his  glorious  justice .” 

Amid  the  lurid  glare  of  these  unholy  flames  of  hell  a  faint  light  still 
burns  upon  the  altar  to  the  unknown  God  ;  and  Saint  Paul  may  speak 
to  the  heathen  to-day,  as  he  did  to  the  heathen  of  old  :  “  Whom  ye 
ignorantly  worship,  him  declare  I  unto  you.” 

The  fifth  creed  in  which  these  last  awful  dogmas  are  to  be  found  cost 
ten  cents.  Perhaps  these  extracts  are  more  familiar  to  the  clergy  than 
to  the  laitv.  I  confess  that,  although  I  have  of  course  been  perfectly 
familiar  with  the  existence  of  these  conceptions  which  admit  the  possi¬ 
bility  of  righteousness  to  man  only  at  the  cost  of  imagining  Satan  to 
have  become  the  Supreme  God,  yet,  when  I  find  that  young  men  and 
young  women  can  now  actually  buy  the  books  containing  such  pagan 
conceptions  of  God,  I  am  almost  inclined  to  wish  that  there  were  a 
power  in  society  like  that  arrogated  to  himself  by  the  Pope,  so  that  these 
fearful  causes  of  infidelity  might  be  put  in  the  Index  Expurgatorius, 
and  forbidden  to  those  whose  minds  may  be  depraved  or  whose  hearts 
may  be  saddened  by  them. 

These  are  examples  of  what  is  called  religious  teaching  from  the 
creeds,  catechisms,  or  manuals  of  the  five  denominations  of  what  are 


382 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


called  Protestant  Christians,  who  outnumber  all  others  in  this  country, 
even  including  the  Catholics,  and  who  outnumber  all  Protestants  among 
that  part  of  the  Christian  population  of  the  world.  Now,  if  this  antique 
and  horrible  doctrine  of  original  sin  and  eternal  damnation  is  incor¬ 
porated  in  the  manuals  and  catechisms  used  in  what  is  called  the 
religious  teaching  of  children  and  of  young  men  and  young  women, — 
if  such  declarations  of  necessary  belief  are  furnished  to  clergymen  to 
be  used  in  preparing  their  sermons, — then  one  cannot  wonder  very 
’  much  at  the  somewhat  irreverent  title  of  the  only  one  of  Ingersoll’s 
pamphlets  that  I  have  ever  read,  “  An  Plonest  God  the  Noblest  Work 
of  Man.”  Nor  can  one  wonder  that  Islam  secures  a  thousand  converts 
from  gross  Paganism  to  one  secured  by  a  Protestant  missionary. 

If,  on  the  other  hand, — what  I  believe  to  be  the  truth, — these 
formulse  are  simply  a  repetition  of  dead,  exhausted  superstitions,  re¬ 
printed  because  men  dare  not  break  with  old  habits  and  customs,  their 
continued  publication  and  sale  by  the  accredited  agencies  of  their 
denominations  imply  such  intellectual  dishonesty  on  the  part  of  their 
leaders  as  to  deprive  their  representative  preachers  of  any  great  influ¬ 
ence.  The  clergymen  who  tolerate  the  use,  but  do  not  believe  these 
creeds,  may  be  most  excellent,  kindly,  and  benevolent  pastors,  an  aid 
and  a  comfort  to  their  congregations,  but  can  they  be  leaders  of  re¬ 
ligious  thought  ?  It  seems  to  me  impossible.  Do  they  not  really 
attain  influence  only  in  proportion  to  their  freedom  from  the  influence 
of  these  dogmas  ? 

Objection  is  made  to  the  introduction  of  religious  teaching  in  the 
public  schools,  and  a  vehement  controversy  is  now  going  on  upon  this 
subject.  I  find  my  sympathy  in  this  connection  mainly  with  the 
Catholics  and  the  Jews  rather  than  with  the  Protestants.  If  I  were, 
forced  to  choose  which  influence  I  would  prefer  to  have  prevail  in  a 
school  to  which  I  might  be  obliged  to  send  a  child,  I  should  very  much 
prefer  the  Catholic  treatment  of  the  subject  of  the  future  life  to  the 
Calvinistic.  The  conception  of  purgatory  imputes  less  dishonesty  to 
the  Creator  than  the  conception  of  a  perpetual  hell ;  and  I  think  that 
Catholicism  can  be  more  readily  adapted  to  the  conditions  of  modern 
life,  and  will  be  more  surely  modified  and  purged  of  that  which  is  bad 
or  erroneous,  than  the  religious  system  of  the  Calvinist,  which  is  based 
on  such  a  logical  method  that,  if  the  premises  are  accepted,  the  con¬ 
clusion  of  necessity  ensues,  as  Calvin  reasoned.  And  this  conclusion 
leads  directly  toward  atheism  rather  than  toward  modification  of  reli¬ 
gious  conceptions,  such  as  the  Catholic  Church  may  adopt  and  may 
teach.  Witness  St.  George  Mivart’s  two  articles  in  the  Nineteenth 
Century ,  in  which  the  views  of  a  Catholic  scientist  of  the  highest  ability 
on  evolution  and  on  Biblical  criticism  are  given.  It  is  not  only  within 
a  single  generation,  or  at  the  utmost  within  two,  that  the  Unitarian  or 


Religion  and  Life . 


383 


rational  type  of  religious  belief  has  been  brought  to  the  notice  of  every¬ 
day  or  common  people  who  have  not  much  time  to  devote  to  the  sub¬ 
ject  ?  Is  it  not  the  function  of  the  Unitarian  to  bring  the  concepts  of 
religion  into  the  daily  work  of  men  ?  If  the  world  and  the  flesh  are  in 
their  nature  bad,  corrupt,  misleading,  and  treacherous  ;  if  Scriptural 
texts  can  be  and  are  perverted  so  as  to  condemn  worldly  prudence, 
foresight,  economy,  and  the  accumulation  of  capital, — as  they  are, — then 
he  who  feeds  the  hungry,  clothes  the  naked,  and  houses  tfye  poor  in 
ever  increasing  abundance,  comfort,  and  welfare  is  outside  the  pale  of 
faith,  outside  the  performance  of  good  works  ;  he  is  but  prolonging  the 
lives  and  multiplying  the  numbers  of  those  who,  being  “  conceived  in 
sin  and  born  in  iniquity,”  must  go  down  to  everlasting  damnation. 

Now,  the  very  conception  of  commerce  is  that  of  mutual  service  ; 
yet  the  very  common  idea  which  prevails,  especially  among  the  clergy, 
is  that  in  all  trade  each  man  is  trying  to  get  an  advantage  over  his  cus¬ 
tomer,  that  in  all  manufacturing  each  man  is  trying  to  make  the  poor¬ 
est  substance  that  will  pass  the  test  of  the  market,  that  each  man  will 
cheat  his  neighbor,  adulterate  his  goods,  put  on  false  marks,  and  mis¬ 
lead  the  ignorant  and  the  poor,  provided  he  does  n’t  get  found  out. 
This  conception  of  commerce  is  so  far  from  the  truth  as  to  be  almost 
absurd. 

Yet  I  do  not  wonder  that  the  representatives  of  sects  who  deal  in 
their  book-shops  in  total  depravity  and  eternal  punishment  at  two  to 
ten  cents  per  creed  should  suspect  salt  in  the  sugar,  sawdust  in  the 
spice,  pipeclay  in  the  cotton,  or  strychnine  in  the  beer  in  which  their 
parishioners  deal.  When  men  impute  to  the  Almighty  motives, 
methods,  and  acts  which,  if  avowed  or  applied  by  any  merchant  or 
manufacturer  to  the  conduct  of  his  own  life,  would  destroy  his  credit 
and  cause  distrust  of  his  character,  their  influence  can  only  be  main¬ 
tained  in  inverse  proportion  to  the  intelligence  of  those  whom  they 
undertake  to  teach. 

I  have  often  had  occasion  to  point  out,  as  others  have  done  before 
me,  that  fraud,  peculation,  and  dishonesty  in  trade  are  conspicuous 
because  they  are  not  common.  What  were  the  number  of  dishonest 
transactions  to-day  compared  to  the  number  of  opportunities  for  theft, 
fraud,  and  cheating?  What  is  the  best  and  most  profitable  account  on 
the  manufacturer’s  or  merchant’s  books  ?  It  may  be  and  often  is  the 
guaranty  account,  i.  e.,  the  sum  charged  to  the  cost  of  goods  and 
credited  to  guaranty,  to  protect  the  merchant  against  bad  debts.  My 
father  was  a  merchant  for  over  forty  years,  dealing  with  men  during  the 
period  when  capital  was  scarce  and  credits  were  given  on  almost  all 
transactions.  Yet  he  told  me  that  the  losses  by  bad  debts  which  he 
had  made  through  his  business  career  would  not  come  to  fifty  cents  on 
each  one  hundred  dollars’  worth  of  goods  sold.  My  business  experi- 


384  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 

ence  began  forty-six  years  ago,  when  the  customary  credit  on  domestic 
cotton  fabrics  was  eight  months,  and  on  woolen  fabrics  ten,  sometimes 
twelve,  months.  Before  the  railway  had  sunk  time  and  distance  in  a 
fraction  of  a  cent  a  ton  a  mile  for  the  cost  of  moving  the  goods,  the 
necessities  of  the  work  of  distribution  required  long  credit  to  be  given. 
From  that  time  to  the  present  I  have  been  personally  connected  with 
factories  whose  sales  have  amounted  to  at  least  a  hundred  million  dol¬ 
lars’  worth?  first  and  last  ;  and  I  can  safely  say  that  the  losses  by  bad 
debts  throughout  this  period  on  the  aggregate  of  these  transactions 
have  not  exceeded  fifty  cents,  and  would  probably  be  less  than  twenty- 
five  cents,  on  each  one  hundred  dollars’  worth  of  goods  sold.  The  fac¬ 
tories,  workshops,  and  warehouses  on  which  the  company  of  which  I 
am  president  now  carries  ninety  million  dollars  of  insurance,  and,  in 
connection  with  other  companies  of  like  kind,  organized  in  a  mutual 
association  for  mutual  service  to  the  manufacturers,  have  outstanding 
policies  in  all  to  the  amount  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  million  dollars. 
In  the  next  twelve  months  the  value  of  the  goods  and  wares  which  will 
be  turned  out  by  these  establishments  will  be  more  than  eight  hundred 
million  dollars.  In  my  judgment,  if  the  owners  of  these  establishments 
would  pay  any  guaranty  company  one  half  of  one  per  cent.,  fifty  cents 
on  each  one  hundred  dollars,  or  four  million  dollars,  to  guarantee  the 
prompt  payment  of  the  eight  hundred  million  dollars  when  due,  the 
profit  in  that  transaction  would  be  one  half  that  sum,  or  two  million 
dollars.  What  inference  as  to  the  character  of  the  community  is  to  be 
drawn  from  these  facts  ? 

If  the  great  mass  of  men  did  not  on  the  whole  intend  to  live  fairly 
and  to  deal  fairly  with  others,  no  commerce  would  be  possible  on  any 
large  scale.  In  proportion  as  the  law  of  mutual  service  is  wittingly  or 
unwittingly  applied  does  the  service  increase  with  corresponding  welfare 
to  each  and  all. 

In  my  own  experience,  I  have  observed  that  the  best  goods  of  every 
kind,  whether  high-priced  or  low-priced,  of  which  the  quality  is  main¬ 
tained  uniformly  through  a  long  term  of  years,  yield  the  best  profit  to 
the  manufacturer 

Another  rather  curious  result  is  this  :  that  when  the  reputation  of 
any  given  class  of  goods  is  thoroughly  established  on  its  name  or  trade¬ 
mark,  the  middle-man  or  dealer  can  secure  but  the  least  margin  of 
profit  from  its  sale. 

On  the  other  hand,  goods  which  are  badly  made,  adulterated,  or 
which  depend  upon  mere  fashion  or  fancy  for  their  sale,  last  but  a 
little  while,  and  are  dangerous  to  all  who  touch  them.  The  skill  of  the 
dealer  is  in  meeting  the  fashion  and  in  rightly  estimating  the  time  in 
which  a  given  fancy  or  fashion  may  last,  and  in  getting  a  big  profit  on 
the  first  sales  to  cover  the  possible  loss  on  the  stock  left  when  the 
fashion  changes. 


Religion  and  Life. 


385 


In  making  the  broad  statement  that  the  law  of  commerce  is,  on  the 
whole,  one  of  mutual  service,  subject  only  to  such  exceptions  as 
strengthen  the  rule,  I  do  not  ignore  the  enormous  sales  of  quack  medi¬ 
cines,  perhaps  the  most  obnoxious,  immoral,  and  even  wicked  method 
of  raising  money-  on  the  pretence  of  service.  But  herein,  again,  comes 
the  necessity  for  raising  the  standard  of  individual  intelligence.  In  this 
matter,  as  in  speculating  in  Wall  Street,  there  would  be  no  wolves  to 
shear  the  lambs  if  the  lambs  did  not  bring  their  own  fleeces  to  be 
shorn.  If  people  would  not  ignorantly  dose  themselves  or  ignorantly 
buy  quack  medicine  in  order  to  take  alcoholic  stimulants  in  disguise, 
the  traffic  in  quack  medicines  would  not  pay.  It  implies  a  knave  on 
one  side  and  a  fool  on  the  other,  because  it  always  takes  two  to  make 
a  bargain.  That  is  to  say,  it  is  only  people  who  are  very  credulous 
in  respect  to  matters  on  which  they  are  uninformed  who  are  cheated  or 
misled  in  their  purchases  of  any  thing ;  but,  in  this  matter  of  trade,  all 
that  is  necessary  is  to  find  out  what  is  the  character  of  the  maker  or 
the  dealer  of  whom  you  buy,  and  then  you  need  not  give  a  thought  to 
the  quality  of  the  goods  you  buy  :  they  are  sure  to  be  as  good  as  the 
price  you  are  willing  to  pay  will  permit.  How  curiously  perverted 
words  become  in  use  !  We  talk  about  bargains.  Now,  if  you  attempt 
to  bar  a  reasonable  gain  for  the  service  rendered  by  the  dealer  of  whom 
you  buy,  you  will  be  sure  to  be  cheated  in  the  long  run,  because  you 
covet  what  he  ought  to  gain. 

The  whole  country  is  now  agitated  by  different  phases  of  what  is 
called  the  “  labor  question,”  and  there  has  never  been  a  period  in  the 
history  of  any  country  when  so  much  attention  has  been  given  to  the 
study  of  the  forces  which  make  for  material  abundance  and  human 
welfare.  There  are  all  sorts  of  empirical  devices  for  improving  the 
standard  of  living  ;  but  to  every  one  who  brings  to  this  subject  an 
honest  mind  it  soon  becomes  apparent  that  the  only  way  to  raise  the 
general  standard  of  living  and  to  benefit  the  community  as  a  whole  is 
to  develop  the  personal  character  and  capacity  of  each  and  every 
individual  member  of  the  community  to  a  yet  higher  plane.  The 
primary  source  of  all  wealth  is  in  the  manual  and  mechanical  work 
which  is  done  by  the  many  under  the  direction — not  control  but 
leadership — of  the  few,  by  whom  all  are  served  alike.  It  is  as  true  that 
capital  is  placed  at  the  service  of  labor  by  the  capitalist  as  it  is  that 
labor  serves  capital  in  the  production  of  commodities.  There  never 
was  a  time  when  science  and  invention  had  placed  such  opportunities 
in  the  way  of  young  men  and  young  women  to  live  well  as  at  the  pres¬ 
ent  time.  But  the  stream  cannot  rise  higher  than  its  source  ;  and  if 
many  remain  ignorant  and  incapable  of  taking  advantage  of  the  oppor¬ 
tunities  which  science  and  invention  have  placed  at  their  disposal  for 
developing  the  products  of  our  mother  earth,  then  even  a  low  standard 
of  subsistence  may  with  difficulty  be  attained,  and  the  hardships  to 

25 


386 


The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


which  the  many  are  subjected  will  continue  to  be  imposed  upon  them 
by  their  own  incapacity. 

The  mind  of  man  is  the  important  factor  in  material  production. 
Character  counts  for  more  than  capital  in  getting  a  living.  He  makes 
the  best  use  of  his  capital  who  by  the  use  either  of  his  brains  or  his 
capital,  while  serving  himself,  at  the  same  time  raises  the  earnings  of 
the  workmen  to  the  highest  point  by  reducing  the  cost  of  production 
to  the  lowest  ;  and  that  is  the  law  of  progress.  The  dollars  of  the 
gain  which  the  capitalist  earns  under  these  conditions  are  but  a  tithe  of 
the  service  which  he  renders  to  all  ;  he  may  benefit  his  fellow-men 
vastly  more  in  the  getting  of  his  fortune  or  the  gaining  of  his  wealth 
than  he  possibly  can  in  the  spending  or  disposing  of  it  even  for  chari¬ 
table  purposes. 

But  the  work  in  which  the  business  man  is  occupied,  although  it  is 
m  using  the  things  of  the  world  and  in  providing  for  the  flesh,  is  yet 
fully  justified,  and  its  beneficence  is  acknowledged.  One  may  say  : 
“  All  this  is  but  a  part  of  the  estimation  in  which  men  of  affairs  are  now 
held  by  Catholic  and  Protestant,  by  Calvinist  and  Unitarian,  by  Deist 
and  Atheist  alike.”  But  is  it  so  ?  Is  this  view  of  the  world  and  of  the 
material  doings  of  men,  which  are  symbolized  as  “  the  flesh  ”  in  the 
text,  consistent  with  the  creeds  by  which  the  world  is  condemned  and 
*all  things  in  it,  and  in  which  it  is  held  that  the  life  of  man  is  misspent 
unless  it  is  devoted  to  a  little,  petty,  selfish  undertaking  for  saving  his 
own  soul, — a  matter  about  which  he  need  not  worry  himself  in  the 
slightest  measure,  if  he  does  what  is  given  him  to  do  in  this  world  as 
well  as  he  knows  how  to  do  it  ? 

The  hardships  and  trials  of  life  may  hide  from  us  much  that  it 
would  be  helpful  to  know  ;  yet  is  there  not  in  every  man  a  spark  of 
that  inspiration,  however  dim,  which  may  lighten  the  way  and  may 
bear  witness  to  the  life  that  is  beyond  ? 

“  The  one  remains  ;  the  many  change  and  pass. 

Heaven’s  light  forever  shines,  earth’s  shadows  fly. 

Life,  like  a  dome  of  many-colored  glass, 

Stains  the  white  radiance  of  eternity, 

Until  death  comes  and  shatters  it  to  fragments.” 

Why  the  work  of  life  should  be  so  hard,  we  cannot  tell.  What  it  must 
have  been  before  the  inventions  of  science  had  lightened  the  work  we 
cannot  imagine.  This  much  we  do  know  :  that  by  patient,  honest 
work  the  character  is  formed  and  capacity  is  developed.  We  know 
that  the  old  Hebrew  myth,  that  labor  is  a  curse  imposed  upon  man 
because  of  his  sin,  has  no  foundation.  We  know  that  work  is  a  benefi¬ 
cent  necessity,  through  which  men  are  brought  under  the  healthy 
stimulus  of  prospective  want  to  the  highest  plane  which  their  time  and 
opportunity  in  this  world  will  permit.  We  know  that  the  functions  of 


Religion  and  Life .  38  7 

men  of  affairs  are  of  the  utmost  beneficence,  even  though  their  work 
pertains  to  matters  of  the  world  and  of  the  flesh. 

I  suppose  each  man’s  conception  of  his  relation  to  the  eternal, 
which  must  be  the  foundation  of  all  religion,  will  vary  according  to  the 
individual  development  of  the  man  himself.  Many  may  be  aided  by 
forms  and  symbols  which  to  others  convey  no  meaning.  What  matter  ? 
If  the  conception  of  religion  is  true  and  honest,  the  life  will  corre¬ 
spond  ;  if  the  conception  of  God  implies  a  power  exerted  in  a  mean 
and  unjustifiable  manner,  then  the  life  may  correspond  to  that  type  of 
what  is  called  religious,  and  may  be  very  ignoble.  To  my  own  mind 
there  is  something  very  obnoxious  and  repellant  in  the  common  sepa¬ 
ration  of  religion  from  life,  which  is  implied  in  the  theory  of  sudden 
conversion  or  of  revivals  ;  yet  more  in  the  ordinary  forms  of  exhorta¬ 
tion,  by  which  it  is  implied  that  all  men  must  be  sinners  until  they 
shall  be  saved  in  a  particular  way.  Is  it  not,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten, 
either  an  act  of  unconscious  hypocrisy  or  of  intellectual  dishonesty 
when  men  apply  to  themselves  in  their  attitude  toward  their  Creator 
terms  which  they  would  resent  with  the  utmost  indignation  if  they  were 
applied  to  them  by  others  ?  I  do  not  think  common  forms  of  religion 
will  either  gain  or  retain  a  strong  hold  upon  men  who  have  passed  be¬ 
yond  the  phase  of  superstition,  so  long  as  its  terminology  differs  so 
much  as  it  commonly  does  from  the  phrases,  forms  of  speech,  and 
tones  or  inflections  of  the  voice  which  are  used  in  every-day  life.  It  is 
for  these  reasons  that,  while  I  have  never  felt  called  upon  to  join  any 
particular  church  or  to  become  any  thing  more  than  a  member  of  a 
Unitarian  parish,  I  look  upon  the  ideas  which  are  symbolized  under 
the  name  of  Unitaria*n  as  being  necessary  to  the  progress  both  of 
mental  and  of  material  welfare  throughout  the  world. 

The  open  secret  which  few  yet  seem  to  comprehend,  although  all 
act  consistently  with  it  unless  restricted  in  their  individual  liberty,  is 
that  not  only  individual  wealth,  but  the  common  welfare  of  States  and 
Nations,  is  attained  in  most  ample  measure  through  interdependence, 
and  not  through  independence.  The  higher  law  on  which  modern 
society  is  founded  is  that  of  mutual  service. 

Those  who  apply  reason  to  the  conceptions  of  religion  may  fully 
attain  the  leadership  which  they  are  rapidly  gaining,  and  to  which  they 
are  entitled  in  all  sects  and  denominations  by  joining  religion  and  life, 
which  have  been  so  widely  separated  in  creed  and  practice  heretofore. 
The  basis  of  faith  will  be  found  in  the  recognition  of  the  fact  that 
there  is  a  law  of  harmony  in  the  universe,  ultimately  controlling  the 
relations  of  men  to  each  other  under  the  conditions  of  mutual  service, 
as  truly  as  the  planets  in  their  courses  are  bound  by  the  supreme  law 
which  is  becoming  more  and  more  within  the  knowledge  and  compre¬ 
hension  of  men  as  science  is  more  and  more  developed. 


388  The  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Nation . 

As  time  goes  on  I  think  it  cannot  fail  to  become  a  part  of  the  com¬ 
mon  economic  faith  that  all  the  forces  which  make  the  rate  of  wages  or 
the  margin  of  profit,  and  which  control  commerce  among  men,  tend  to 
remove  the  more  noxious  and  degrading  conditions  from  the  work  ;  to 
lessen  the  necessity  of  unduly  hard  work  in  mechanical  and  manual 
labor  ;  to  secure  to  the  workmen  a  constantly  increasing  share  of  an 
increasing  product ;  and  to  diminish  the  number  of  drones  who  live  on 
the  proceeds  of  others’  labor  without  doing  any  service  in  return.  It 
is  also  possible  that  within  two  or  three  generations  the  old  economic 
dogma,  which  is  in  its  place  as  vicious  as  the  bad  creeds  from  which  I 
have  quoted,  and  perhaps  more  harmful  in  its  effect  upon  the  material 
conditions  of  men  than  these  old  pseudo-religious  creeds  now  are  in 
their  effect  upon  spiritual  conditions, — namely,  that  in  all  co?nmerce 
what  one  gams  another  must  lose , — may  be  displaced  by  the  righteous 
conception  that  in  all  commerce ,  whether  between  men  of  the  same  nation 
or  with  other  nations ,  both  parties  gain ,  and  that  commerce  exists  simply  by 
the  force  of  the  ??iutual  service  which  is  wittingly  or  unwittingly  rendered 
by  every  man  who  buys  and  sells  and  gets  gain ,  dealing  honestly  in  whole¬ 
some  goods  and  wares.  When  this  economic  faith  is  joined  to  a  true 
spiritual  insight,  then,  indeed,  all  the  forces  by  which  human  action  is 
guided  and  controlled  will  work  together  for  peace,  order,  industry, 
good-will,  and  plenty  among  the  nations.  Then  may  the  vision  of  the 
poet  become  indeed  a  living  truth  : — 

“  Down  the  dark  future  through  long  generations 
The  echoing  sounds  grow  fainter  and  then  cease  ; 

And  like  a  bell,  with  solemn,  sweet  vibrations, 

I  hear  once  morp  the  voice  of  Christ  say,  ‘  Peace.’ 

‘  ‘  Peace  ;  and  no  longer  from  its  brazen  portals 

The  blast  of  war’s  great  organ  shakes  the  skies  ; 

But,  beautiful  as  songs  of  the  immortals, 

The  holy  melodies  of  loye  arise.” 

My  friends,  this  is  an  age  of  freedom.  We  have  attained  personal 
liberty,  freedom  of  thought,  freedom  of  action  :  we  may  yet  attain 
freedom  of  commerce  in  the  broadest  sense,  in  which  all  men  may 
serve  one  another.  May  we  not  find  in  these  conditions  that  faith 
which  is  “  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the  evidence  of  things  not 
seen  ”  ?  If  this  is  not  so, — 


Of  what  avail  the  plough  and  sail, 
Or  land,  or  life,  if  freedom  fail  ?  ” 


I 


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INDEX. 


A 

Acreage,  population  and  debt  in  ratio  to, 

S4 

Agriculture,  extensive,  objections  to,  208  ; 

intensive,  advantages  of,  208 
Alabama,  production  of  iron,  20 
Amoskeag  Manufacturing  Co.,  model 
factory,  322 

Anarchists,  in  typical  township,  223 
Andover  Theological  Seminary,  379 
Andrew,  Governor  John  A.,  wise  advice, 
28 

Annual  product,  how  valued,  144 
Architect,  profession  of,  how  it  may  be 
raised,  334 

Architecture,  combustible,  cost  of,  310  ; 
examples  of,  313 

Armies,  ratio  of  exempts  to  service  in,  86  ; 

source  of  weakness,  96 
Atwater,  Wm.  O.,  soda  laboratory,  159 

B 

Banking,  margin  of  profit,  230  ;  support 
of,  a  test  of  intelligence,  230 
Barrett,  F.  N.,  estimate  liquor  consump¬ 
tion,  180 

Bastiat,  Frederic,  Harmonies,  299  ;  rela¬ 
tion  of  wages  to  capital,  263  ;  works 
incomplete  but  suggestive,  11 
Bayard,  Secretary,  Thomas  F.,  instruc¬ 
tions  to  consuls,  90 
Bones,  dry,  or  otherwise,  97 
Boot-blacks,  how  they  add  to  wealth,  153 
Boston,  city  of,  taxation  of,  362  ;  distribu¬ 
tion  of  taxes,  226 

Bread,  cost  of  distribution,  223  ;  heat  re¬ 
quired,  345 

C 

Cairnes,  J.  E.,  law  of  wages,  9 
•Calories,  standard  of  nutrition,  340 
Canada,  no  guard  against,  16  ;  repelled 
by  petty  taxes,  16  ;  mischief  of  tariff  on 
products,  235 

Canadians  in  factories,  work  and  wages, 

193 


Capacity,  to  him  that  hath  shall  be  given, 
91  ;  to  produce  in  inverse  proportion  to 
land  occupied,  363  ;  mental,  prime  fac¬ 
tor  in  production,  353 
Capital  and  labor,  shares  of  product,  305 
Capitalist,  adds  more  than  he  earns,  iv 
Capital,  serves  labor  by  increase  of  pro¬ 
duct,  147  ;  never  exceeds  two  or  three 
years’  product,  198  ;  no  power  of  com¬ 
pulsion,  242  ;  how  saved,  299  ;  labor 
helpless  without,  358  ;  national,  pro¬ 
portion  to  product,  302 
Carey,  Henry  C.,  reductio  ad  absurdum , 
82  ;  on  wages  and  capital,  299  ;  rela¬ 
tion  of  wages  to  capital,  263 
Carolina,  South,  needed  manure  not  seces¬ 
sion,  15 

Cents,  fifty,  a  day  per  capita,  how  to  add 
the  test  of  reform,  220  ;  five,  per  day, 
profit  or  loss,  202 

Century,  nineteenth,  what  has  been  done, 
28  ;  twentieth,  what  will  be  done,  28 
Character  counts  more  than  capital,  246, 
386 

Chicopee  Manufacturing  Co.,  model  fac¬ 
tory,  323 

China,  how  we  trade  with  her,  217 
Churches  annually  burned,  313 
Classes,  privileged,  what  will  they  do  for 
a  living,  97 

Clothing,  equality  of,  242  ;  standard  of, 
104 

College  buildings  and  libraries  annually 
burned,  313 

Combination  leads  to  abundance,  6 
Comfort,  how  attained,  248 
Commerce,  alphabet  of,  217  ;  law  of, 
mutual  service,  385  ;  supreme  law,  388 
Common-sense,  more  potent  than  Con¬ 
gress,  244  ;  ultimate  guide  to  reform, 
243 

Communists  few  and  feeble,  224 
Competition  leads  to  abundance,  iv 
Conditions  of  men,  three  methods  of  im¬ 
proving,  292 

Congress,  debates  in,  mostly  examples  of 
unintelligent  mediocrity,  271 
Construction,  how  to  make  safe,  312  ;  slow 
burning,  309 


391 


392 


Index . 


Consumption  limited,  production  unlim¬ 
ited,  6 

Consumption,  measure  of,  293  ;  five  modes 
of,  295  ;  graphically  illustrated,  296 
Cookery,  domestic,  first  place  in  reform, 
240 

Cooking,  bad,  prime  cause  of  poverty, 
239  ;  waste  in,  239 ;  experiments  in, 
341 

Cooking  Box,  Norwegian,  developed,  343 
Co-operation,  why  not  if  you  want  to  ? 
229 

Cost  low,  wages  high,  reasons  for,  129 
Cotton,  consumption  per  capita,  339 ; 
cheap,  by  free  labor,  19  ;  condition  of 
supply,  18  ;  free  and  slave  product,  65  ; 
product  of,  compared  by  periods,  65 
Cotton  fabrics,  exchange  of,  with  China, 
26 

Cotton  fibre,  why  the  South  controls,  18 
Cotton  seed,  importance  of,  19 
Credit,  effect  on  prices,  237 
Creeds,  antique  and  horrible,  380  ;  prices 
of,  380  ;  value  inverse  to  price,  380 
Creed,  work  out  your  own,  11  ;  Catholic, 
honest  at  least,  382 
Cuba,  deposits  of  iron,  288 
Currency,  per  capita,  187  ;  prices  and 
wages  compared,  188 
Custom-houses  not  inconsistent  with  free 
trade,  366 

D 

Debts,  bad,  insignificant  compared  to 
payments,  383  ;  European  and  United 
States,  85 

Devil,  not  always  in  the  flesh,  379 
Disarm  or  starve,  the  warning  of  liberty, 
71 

Dismal  science,  political  economy  not  a,  3 
Distribution,  the  main  question,  18  ;  un¬ 
equal,  becomes  equitable,  iv 
Dogma  not  necessary  to  faith,  380 
Domain,  national,  proportion  in  crops,  41 
Domestic  industry,  how  to  promote,  282 
Drink,  consumption  of,  180;  cost  per 
year,  39 

Dutch,  sources  of  power  and  wealth,  17 
Dwelling-place,  how  to  equalize,  243 
Dynasties,  doomed,  92  ;  how  will  they  get 
a  living,  when  a  settlement  of  accounts 
has  been  called  ?  97 

E 

Earth’s  capacity  not  touched,  iii 
Economic  science  in  U.  S.,  true  leaders 
in,  10 

Eggs,  value  of,  compared  to  iron,  wool, 
and  silver,  37 

Egypt  despoiled  by  debt,  93 
Eight-hour  dream  may  become  reality, 

178  . 

Emancipation  of  white  man,  244 


English-speaking  people,  trade  union  of, 
267 

Ensilage,  importance  of,  15 
Enthusiast,  crack-brained,  may  be  true 
prophet,  266 

Euclid,  none  in  economics,  10 
Europe,  a  prey  to  fear,  207  ;  division  and 
dissension  in,  48 

Everett,  Dr.  Wm.,  old  aphorism  in  new 
form,  2  ;  modern  aphorism,  379 
Exports,  must  balance  imports,  232  ; 
number  dependent  upon,  45  ;  occupa¬ 
tions  resting  upon,  233 

F 

Factory  building,  old  style,  312 
Faith,  basis  of,  387 

Farmer,  choice  of  subjects  of  taxation,  365 
Farmer’s  daughters,  hours  of  work  and 
wages,  193 

Farms,  number  and  how  occupied,  44 
Felon,  unconvicted,  must  run  a  railway 
beneficially,  377 
Fiat  money,  fraud,  182 
Field,  Marshall,  model  warehouse,  315 
Financial  danger  avoided,  185 
Fire-door,  automatic,  332 
Fire  losses,  fault  of  owners,  31 1 
Fisheries,  failure  of  treaty,  81 
Fishery  question,  discussion  of,  a  national 
humiliation,  236 

Fish,  taxation  of,  a  ridiculous  absurdity, 
236 

Food,  basis  of  morality,  379  ;  measure 
of,  340  ;  within  one  year  of  exhaustion, 
303  ;  equal  consumption,  242  ;  relative 
cost  of,  1 14  ;  cost  per  year,  total,  37  ; 
standard  ration,  103  ;  providers,  122 
Foreign  population  in  Massachusetts,  17 
Free  trade,  continental  system,  244;  ob¬ 
jective  point  of  all,  253  ;  test  of,  232 
Frying-pan,  infernal  machine,  342 
Fuel,  cost  for  cooking,  one  year,  344 

G 

Gannett,  Henry,  estimate  of  wealth,  301 
Garfield,  President,  clear  conceptions  of,. 
11 

George,  Henry,  sincere  but  fallacious, 
351  ;  fallacies  of,  10 

German,  farmer  and  peasant,  expenses, 
46,  47 

Gold  and  silver,  product  compared,  116 
Government,  cost  of,  364 
Grain,  product  per  capita,  62  ;  crops  of, 
compared  by  periods,  61  ;  average  prod¬ 
uct,  1865-1885,  33 

Grant,  President,  stopped  inflation,  244 
Great  Britain,  basis  of  power,  265 
Grecian  order  of  society,  restoration  not 
desirable,  268 

Gumption  should  be  taught,  21 
Gunpowder  equalized  forces,  207 


Index. 


393 


H 

Hawley,  F.  B.,  method  of  increasing 
wealth,  153 

Hay,  product  compared  by  periods,  63 
Heat,  measure  for  good  cooking,  345 
Hell,  unholy  flames  of,  381 
Hospitals,  annually  burned,  313  ;  whited 
sepulchres  well  devised  for  cremation  of 
inmates,  329 

Hotels  annually  burned,  313 
Hours  shortened,  193 

I 


Imports,  how  diverted,  45  ;  1881-1885, 
quality  of,  76  ;  of  typical  township, 
214  ;  quality  of,  234;  what  should  be 
taxed,  284;  sources  of  revenue,  286 
Incapacity,  political,  probable  in  Con¬ 
gress  of  1889,  84 
Income,  measure  of,  355 
Incomes  of  rich,  how  consume  ,  294 
Industrial  intelligence,  in  all  commerce 
men  serve  each  other,  iii 
Inflation,  veto  of  bill,  244 
Insurance,  fire,  progress  of,  309  ;  life, 
gain  in,  69 

Interdependence,  peace,  order,  and  in¬ 
dustry,  iii  ;  the  rule  of  nations,  267 
Interest,  fall  in  rate,  172 
Intoxicants,  revenue  from,  365 
Inventors,  destructive  work  of,  221 
Iron  and  steel,  cost  of  protection  to,  257; 
cost  of  taxation  on,  278  ;  final  cost  of 
protection,  287  ;  foundation  metals, 
257  ;  how  to  protect,  288  ;  occupied  in 
production,  257  ;  production  and  con¬ 
sumption  U.  S.,  274;  relative  con¬ 
sumption  U.  S.,  257  ;  relative  prices 
Great  Britain  and  U.  S. ,  276 
Iron,  an  insignificant  product,  even  in 
Pennsylvania,  281  ;  cheap  production, 
5  ;  disparity  in  price,  64  ;  labor-cost  of, 
288  ;  production  a  necessity,  260  ;  pro¬ 
duction  unimportant,  20  ;  product  of, 
compared  by  periods,  64 
Iron,  bar,  prices  compared,  287 
Iron  ores,  dependence  of  Great  Britain, 
277 

J 


Jurist,  highest  profession,  2 


K 


Kings,  dukes,  and  lords,  superfluous,  206 


L 


Labor  and  capital,  shares  of  product,  305 
Labor,  capital  inert  without,  358  ;  claims 
of,  must  be  considered,  207  ;  relieved 
by  inventions,  193 
Laborers,  German,  enemies  of,  46 


Laissez  faire — laissez  passer ,  not  a  fixed 
rule,  6 

Land,  choice  of  position  valued,  360  ;  de¬ 
velopment  by  railways,  305  ;  exhausted 
when  treated  as  a  mine,  158  ;  possession 
more  easy  than  ever,  304  ;  possession 
necessary  to  use,  359 ;  raw,  has  no 
value,  225  ;  single  tax,  fallacy  of,  227  ; 
single  tax,  ill  effects  of,  226  ;  single  tax 
treated,  350 ;  valuation,  in  typical 
township,  212 

Law,  higher,  ample  subsistence  for  all, 
iii 

Legislation  on  fisheries,  integrity  justified 
at  the  cost  of  intelligence,  81 
Liberty,  cost  of,  183  ;  individual,  sole 
condition  of  welfare,  5  ;  price  of,  78  ; 
Life,  a  conversion  of  forces,  240  ;  curves 
of,  70  ;  enjoyment  of,  v.  ;  human,  pur¬ 
pose  of,  iii ;  price  of,  200  ;  three  phases, 
material,  mental,  and  spiritual,  3 
Living,  cost  of,  proportion  of  product  ex¬ 
pended,  293 

Loan,  forced,  paper  money  redeemed, 

l8.5. 

Louisiana,  purchase  of,  changed  course  of 
history,  82 

Luxury,  how  much,  on  50  cts.  a  day,  213 

M 

Maine,  Sir  Henry,  trust  in  humanity,  377 
Malthus,  fallacies  of,  7  ;  influence  of,  9  ; 
hypothesis' of,  156 

Man,  American,  not  deteriorated,  23  ; 

Southern,  bigger  waists,  reason  of,  23 
Mankind,  as  lazy  as  it  dares  to  be,  216 
Manufactures,  household,  21 1 
Materials,  crude  or  raw,  free  of  taxation, 
234 

McBryde,  Pres’t  J.  J.,  studies  in  ensilage, 
15  , 

McCulloch,  Hugh,  estimated  maximum 
United  States  debt,  75 
Meat  boiled  is  meat  spoiled,  343 
Millions,  five  hundred,  cost  of  taxes  on 
iron,  287 

Mind  and  character,  prime  factors  in 
production,  iii 

Mind  of  man,  prime  factor  in  production,  I 
Miracle  of  the  loaf,  14 
Missing  science,  coctor  non  doctor ,  339 
Mivart,  St.  George,  criticism,  382 
Model  mill,  one-story  structure,  327 
Money,  cheap,  a  delusion,  236  ;  circula¬ 
tion  in  typical  township,  221  ;  in  cir¬ 
culation  per  capita,  187  ;  in  circulation, 
prices  and  wages  compared,  188  ;  not 
quantity  but  quality,  189  ;  quality 
good,  quantity  will  take  care  of  itself, 
221 

Mortgage,  shall  one  generation  bind 
another  ?  97 

Multiple  standard,  application  of,  170 
Myth,  Hebrew,  labor  a  curse,  386 


394 


Index. 


N 

Nation,  ability  to  bear  taxation,  iii 
National  domain,  compared  with  Europe, 
55 

Nations,  strength  of,  53  ;  weakness  of, 
80 

Needful,  one  thing,  175 
New  EiVgland,  secret  of,  22 
Nitrogen,  importance  of,  4  ;  whence,  14 
Nobility,  Chinese  titles  approved,  206 
Nutrients,  must  be  equally  supplied,  291  ; 
necessary  proportions  of,  340 

O 

Oco-erpations,  in  iron  and  steel,  257  ;  in 
typical  township,  210  ;  of  people  ana¬ 
lyzed,  204  ;  rest  on  individual  capacity, 
129 

One-story  mill,  plan  of,  324 
Ores,  iron,  abundance  in  North  America, 
277  ;  fine  ore  becoming  scarce  in  Great 
Britain,  277 

Oven,  description  of  paper  oven,  341 

F 

Pauper  labor,  cause  of,  49 ;  under-fed, 
therefore  ineffectual,  177 
Peace,  vigorous  prosecution  of,  28 
Penalties  of  progress,  displacement  of  la¬ 
bor,  113 

Pennsylvania,  blunders  of,  280 
Phases  of  life,  material,  mental,  and  spirit¬ 
ual,  3 

Physiocrats,  theory  of  land,  351 
Plymouth  Cordage  Co.,  model  one-story 
mill,  327 

Political  economy,  moral  and  ethical 
aspect,  264 

Population,  Europe  and  United  States, 
55  !  growth  of,  not  yet  comprehended, 

13 

Population  of  United  States,  compared  by 
periods,  57 

Pork,  waste  of  grain,  109 
Potato  gospel  allied  to  spiritual,  2 
Poverty,  Anti-,  societies  obscure  the  ques¬ 
tion,  351 

Poverty,  removed  only  by  self-help,  3 
Power,  productive,  in  what  does  it  con¬ 
sist,  353 

Price,  disparity  a  disadvantage,  256 
Prices,  fall  in,  115 

Privilege,  domination  of,  stops  progress,  3 
Product,  average,  per  workman,  200  ;  how 
valued,  140 ;  per  capita,  compared,  88  ; 
annual,  in  typical  township,  213 
Production,  causes  of  variation  in,  88  ;  re¬ 
lative  to  taxation,  92 
Products,  how  distributed,  292 
Profit,  margin  of,  diminishing,  126 
Profit  sharing,  is  it  profitable  ?  230 
Progress  from  poverty,  130,  163 


Prohibition,  effect  on  industry,  237 
Property  insured  against  fire,  310 
Property,  possession  rests  on  service,  201 ; 

private,  how  developed,  358 
Protection,  advocates  of,  sincere,  255  ;  test 
of,  231  ;  with  incidental  revenue,  advo¬ 
cated  by  the  feeble-minded,  253 
Protective  system,  modify  carefully,  256 
Protective  tariff,  protest  against,  William 
Gray,  Abbott  Lawrence,  and  others,  261 
Protective  theory,  basis  of,  254 
Provisions,  cost  of  moving,  1865  and  1885, 
34 

Pulse  necessary  with  rice,  342 

Q 

Quarrel  with  Canada  due  to  stupidity  and 
greed,  236 

Quesnay  preceded  Henry  George,  351 

R 

Railway,  miles  of,  compared  by  periods, 

58 

Railways,  charges  per  miles,  58 
Ration,  daily,  analyzed,  35 
Relief,  cannot  be  given ,  must  be  earned,  3 
Religion  and  life,  connection  of,  377 
Rent,  judicial,  failure  in  Ireland,  227 
Restrictions  on  labor,  bad  effect  of,  177 
Revenue,  how  to  reduce,  283 
Revolution,  war  of,  caused  by  an  eco¬ 
nomic  blunder,  7 

Ricardo,  fallacies  of,  8 ;  hypothesis  of, 
156  ;  influence  of,  9 
Rice-fed  races,  none  such,  342 
Rich,  ameliorate  the  condition  of,  248 
Richardson,  H.  H.,  architect,  methods  of, 
314 

Roman  empire,  relics  of,  220 
Roof,  bad  forms,  319 ;  true  roof  specified, 
328  ;  factory,  safe  form,  devised  by  W. 
B.  Whiting,  320  ;  purpose  of,  314 
Roofs,  crazy,  description  of,  314 
Rumford,  Count,  experiments  of,  343 

S 

Salvation,  work  out  your  own,  II 
Sam,  Uncle,  gain  in  power  of  production, 
194 

Sausage,  German,  beat  the  French  rifle,  49 
Savings  banks  of  Massachusetts,  gain  in 
deposits,  73 

Scab,  a  future  title  to  honor  and  credit, 
245 

School,  common,  solvent  of  race,  creed, 
and  condition,  62 

Secret,  the  open,  interdependence  not  in¬ 
dependence,  246 

Senators,  New  England,  historic  rubbish 
on  fisheries,  81 

Service,  mutual,  developed  most  fully  in 
United  States,  161 


Index . 


Shakers,  logical  method  of,  224 
Shelter,  how  to  provide  more  rooms,  243 
Ships  weave  a  web  of  concord,  378 
Silver  and  gold,  product  compared,  116 
Silver  question  treated,  115 
Single  tax,  effect  of,  301  ;  would  concen¬ 
trate  land  in  fewer  hands,  373 
Slavery  destroyed  itself,  244 
Smith,  Adam,  method  of,  7 
Socialists,  abortive  efforts  of,  223  ;  Ger¬ 
man  state,  have  misled  young  students,  9 
Social  science,  experimental,  10 
Soul  developed  by  work,  3 
South  Carolina  University,  29 
Southern  States,  economic  blunders,  281 
South,  industrial  progress.  18  ;  new,  re¬ 
sources  of,  5 

Specie  payment,  how  resumed,  124 
Standard,  multiple,  167 
Statistical  investigation,  true  importance 
of,  v 

Statistics,  importance  of,  161 
Stewart,  William  P.,  actuary,  curves  of 
life,  69 

Strikes,  failure  of,  139 
Subsistence,  sources  of,  13 
Sunny  South,  resources  of,  4 
Survival  of  intelligent  and  capable,  13 
Swank,  James  M.,  adjustment  of  figures 
on  iron,  287  ;  authority  on  iron,  260  ; 
cited  on  prices  of  iron,  287  ;  labor-cost 
of  iron,  288 

T 

Tariff  reform,  project  for,  286 
Taxation,  a  form  of  consumption,  296  ; 
at  what  point  to  tax,  362  ;  limit  reached 
in  France,  93  ;  means  work,  352  ;  ratio 
to  product,  303  ;  relative  burden  of, 
83  ;  relative  to  production,  92  ;  succes¬ 
sion  approved,  355  ;  voluntary  in  part, 
374 

Taxes,  in  typical  township,  215 
Tax,  single,  on  land,  225  ;  merits  of ,  374  ; 
no  novelty,  227 

Theory  and  practice,  workmen’s  com¬ 
ments,  247 

Time,  the  only  common  property,  50 
Tin  plates,  what  we  buy  them  with,  259  ; 

cost  of  protection  to,  258 
Township,  typical,  6,000  people,  209 
Trade,  foreign,  balance  wheel,  233 
Treaty  on  fisheries,  discreditable  debate, 
81 

Tropical  conditions,  not  conducive  to 
progress,  4 


395 

Trust,  perversion  of,  by  railway  president, 
378 

Turgot  applied  Quesnay’s  theories,  351 

U 

Unitarian  ideas  symbolized,  387 
Unlearned  professors,  equal  standing,  r 

V 

Vanderbilt,  the  great  communist,  207 

W 

Wages,  each  man  makes  his  own  rate,  iv  ; 
gain  by  classes,  72  ;  gain  in  power,  112  ; 
gain  in  purchasing  power,  106,  169  ; 
high — cost  low,  explanation  of  paradox, 
90  ;  high  rates,  and  low  cost  of  work, 
90  ;  how  increased,  137  ;  iron  law,  so- 
called,  162  ;  low  and  high  cost  of  labor, 
218  ;  raised  while  cost  is  reduced,  222  ; 
rate  increased,  cost  reduced,  132  ;  what 
makes  rates  high,  89  ;  what  makes  the 
rate  of,  143 

War,  Civil,  fruits  of,  29 ;  cost  of,  182  ; 

labor  expended  in,  183 
War  of  Revolution,  cause  of,  67 
Waste,  rich  and  poor  compared,  217,  298 
Wealth  and  population,  relative  gain,  118 
Wealth,  measure  of,  149  ;  natural  analy¬ 
sis  of,  300  ;  progress  in,  66 
Webster,  Daniel,  a  true  prophet,  271  ; 
argument  for  free  trade,  263  ;  objec¬ 
tions  to  protection,  261 
Webster,  Pelatiah,  riches  of  a  nation,  53  ; 
Welfare,  material,  cause  of,  in  U.  S.,  77 
Wells,  David  A.,  researches  on  iron,  273 
What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it  ?  203 
Weeks,  Joseph  D.,  authority  for  wages 
and  prices,  104 

Wheat,  production  in  California,  13  ; 
product  in  Dakota,  44  ;  relative  cost 
U.  S.  and  Germany,  47 
Whigs,  cotton,  blunders  of,  282 
Wool,  consumption  per  capita,  339 ; 

effect  of  duties  on,  258 
Wordsworth,  quotation  from,  30 
Workman,  income,  how  spent,  241 
Workmen’s  rejoinder,  248 
Work  of  life,  one  half  for  food,  4 
World  and  flesh,  not  so  bad  as  they 
seem,  383 

World,  the  best  that  could  be  made,  2 
Wright,  Commissioner,  C.  D.,  food  statis¬ 
tics,  164 


‘  • 

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